


Digisona

by Chaos Fox (ChaosFox)



Category: Digimon - All Media Types
Genre: Digimon 02 Epilogue does not happen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-01
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-03-26 17:14:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 103,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3858499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaosFox/pseuds/Chaos%20Fox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Davis, now fifteen, has been having a tough time in Odaiba since being closed off from the Digital World and Veemon. He gets in so much trouble that he is forced to move to a small town in Inaba. While at Inaba he discovers a murder that links back to the Digital World and he meets Digidestined that are nothing like the ones he met before. Follow Davis as he meets new Digidestined and learns of new demons that lurk in them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

_"I’m sorry but you will all have to say goodbye….”  
_  
 “All aboard for Inaba! All aboard for Inaba!” A train intercom boomed across the barely filled lobby of the train station.  
  
                  “ _No! I want to go back with him!”  
  
 _ A lone boy was the only one who stood up at the announcement from where he sat. Two girls behind him whispered about his weird flame jacket. The boy just shook his head causing his short mahogany bangs to shake across his eyes before heading to the open train doors. He had more things to worry about then what random girls had to gossip about.  
  
                 " _Hey! What’s wrong with you?!”_  
_  
_ The boy placed his blue soccer bag in the rack above before sitting down in the empty train car. He let out a sigh for the current situation he got himself in this time.  
  
                _"Argh! You are so annoying!” “I’m sorry I can’t make it today.”  
  
_ He stuck his hand into his jacket and pulled out a photo of him and his best friend.  
  
               " _I’m sorry but I have to stripe you of leadership status. Hand me your goggles.”  
_  
He let out a tear and it fell on the small blue lizard in the picture and whispered, “Veemon, I wish you were here right now.”  
  
               _“For your constant bad behavior and complaints from the principle I’m sending you to your uncle’s….”_  
  
He restuffed the picture back into his pocket and closed his eyes hoping that a year will pass quickly.  
  
“Welcome to the Velvet Room.” A mysterious voice spoke. “My name is Igor.”  
  
The boy opened his eyes to his new surroundings. It seemed to be a giant horse drawn carriage used haul important people back during medieval Japan that had blue accents.

In the long seat, in the middle, sat an old looking bald man with a long nose. He also noticed a girl his age with long white curly hair tied into two bows with bright yellow eyes. She gave a comforting smile to him and he tried his best to deliver his own to be polite.  
  
“Where am I?” He asked. His eyes trained to the old man now who gave a light chuckle.  
  
“This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only people bound by a contract may enter.” Igor answered.

_“Dream and reality? Bound by a contract? What does all of it even mean?”_ The boy thought.  
  
“Wait I even haven’t gotten into a contract.”  
  
“Maybe, but you may end up with it soon.” The girl finally spoke.

The boy quirked a brow before Igor spoke again.  
  
“How about you introduce yourself young man?” Igor asked.  
  
“I’m Daisuke Motomiya, but I prefer being called Davis. I’m fifteen and in the 10th grade.” Davis answered as he slumped. “You’ll probably want to forget it later on, but for now who’s the girl?”  
  
“Hold on! He isn’t done yet.” The girl spoke firmly and Davis just rolled his eyes.  
  
“Ok. Then get on with what you need so I can wake up already.” Davis grumbled. He wasn’t in the mood for a dream like this right now.  
  
“Ah. I can see your tension on you Davis. Let me ask you something. Do you believe in fortune telling?” Igor asked. Davis just shrugged his shoulders.  
  
“Well let us take a look at your fortune.” Igor smiled as he summoned cards on the table before him. “How about you choose the cards?”  
  
Davis leaned forward and pointed to two cards that immediately flipped face up. One was a tower and the other was the moon.  
  
“So what do these mean?” Davis asked curiously as he looked up at the old man.  
  
“The tower in the upright position represents the immediate future. It seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent.” Igor stated.  
  
“I’m sure that isn’t something new for you though huh?” The white haired girl asked. Davis was taken aback by the question but he nodded.  
  
“The card that indicates the future of the tower is the Moon in the upright position. This card represent hesitation and mystery. You will encounter a great misfortune at your   destination and a great mystery will be imposed upon you.”  
  
Davis groaned. If the man’s fortune is true Davis is going to need to solve some sort of mystery and he was not very good at thinking things ahead that much.  
  
“In the coming days, you will enter a contract of some sort, after which you will return here. The coming year is a turning point in your destiny. If you do not complete this trial set before you, your future may be forever lost.”  
  
“So it’s up to me to save the world again right?” Davis asked. Igor nodded. “Then what else is new?”  
  
The girl chuckled, “You may find this to be a bit for challenging then your last adventure.”  
  
“Ok. But then why am I to return here then? What does this place have to do with me? And what do you guys even do?” Davis continued.  
  
“You will find out soon enough. As for us it is our duty to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that they succeed in their quest.” Igor answered.  
  
“Well if that’s true then who is the girl? I’m pretty sure I need to know her name.”  
  
“My name is Helena and I am Igor’s assistance.” Helena answered leaning forward to shake Davis’s hand. Davis hesitated for a moment before gripping her hand in his own.  
  
“We will continue this later Davis. Until then we bid you farewell.” Igor stated.  
  
“Wait what?” Davis asked when all of a sudden the room went black.


	2. Welcome to Inaba

Davis woke with a start from the weird dream he just had.  
  
“Ok, no more ramen before boarding a train.” Davis groaned rubbing his now hurting head.

“We are arriving at Inaba station. All people stopping at Inaba, please grab your bags and head to the train doors.”

“Oh great.” Davis muttered as he stood up to grab his bag.

Davis walked out of the train doors to the empty train station in front of him. He walked down the stairs and looked around to not find a soul in sight.

“Isn’t my uncle supposed to meet me here?”

“Hey are you Daisuke?” A voice yelled. Davis flinched at the sound of his real name as he turned his head to see a man about in his 30s walking on over. He had shaggy brown hair and sharp blue eyes as he walked on over to him.

“Yeah I am.”

“Hey. I’m your uncle Satoshi Machida.” Machida stuck out his hand which Davis shook.

“It’s great to see you Uncle Machida.” Davis greeted as he stuck his hands back into his pockets.

“Aw lighten up. I hear you have a lot of energy, don’t worry I won’t yell at you.”

“Uh sure.” Davis mumbled while Machida just gave a hearty laugh.

_“I don’t think I’ll be able to though until I finally see HIM again.”_

Davis looked down to see a girl about around eight standing behind Machida. When she saw she was being watch she looked straight into Davis’s eyes with her own pair of sharp blue eyes. Her long red hair only gave them more intensity.

“Oh I see you found my daughter.” Machida hooked an arm around the girl and pushed her forward. “Go on and introduce yourself Akiko.”

“Hello. I’m Akiko. Um… Nice to meet you.” Akiko spoke still looking Davis in the eyes.

Davis just stood there awkwardly as the little girl continued to stare him down with her eyes. He shifted his feet and shifted his eyes away from the girl’s stare. His uncle gave a sigh before waving his hand for Davis to follow. They reached Mochida’s car and the all entered for the drive home.

Davis looked out his window hoping to avoid Akiko’s stare. He saw the famous star Nene Amano doing her concert in Odaiba. He thought back to how Yolie and Kari were big fans and wondering if they were having fun. He then shook his head.

_“Why should I care what their up to? Like they care what I’m doing right now.”_ Davis thought with a sigh. He didn’t need to think about them. He had to worry about getting good grades right now so he can go back to Odaiba and see what they were up to then, but even then…

“We’re here.” Mochida announced. Davis shot his head up to see a decent sized house before him. “Come on you must be tired from your trip.”

Davis walked into the house and, after he thanked Mochida for letting him stay, went into his room. He fell onto the couch with a loud grunt and laid there, wondering what he was going to do tomorrow at school. He groaned at the idea of going to school at all but he knew he had to. His eyes soon fell though and he was soon in the land of dreams.

“Huh…” Davis muttered as he sat up. All around him was darkness and a white mist swirled around him. “Oh come on! Not another dream!”

As he stood up and looked around him. Soon quiet and loud whispers alike began to speak up. He couldn’t understand a word they were saying but he could feel so many different emotions coming from them. He felt betrayal, fear, despair, jealousy, wrath and most of all sadness.

“Hey! Whose there?” Davis yelled. The voices stopped and it became so silent you could have heard a pin drop. “Hello? Aren’t you going to answer?”

**“WHO ARE YOU TO TALK TO ME LIKE THAT?!”**  A deep voice filled with all the emotions from before. It was if the all were bottled up and then spilt down into one singular path. A path heading straight to Davis. **“DO YOU THINK YOU ARE SO MUCH BETTER THAN I TO SPEAK TO ME LIKE I’M TRASH?”**

 “W-what?” Davis strutted taking a step back. “I didn’t think that!”

**“THAT IS WHAT THEY ALL SAY! THEY ALL SAY THEY DO NOT THINK LOWLY OF I, BUT IN TRUTH THEY DO! THEY TREAT ME, LIKE I’M TRASH! EVERYONE I COME ACROSS JUST LOOKS AT ME LIKE I AM GARBAGE! THEY ARE THE GARBAGE AND I WISH I CAN THROW THEM ALL OUT! YOU THINK OF ME AS THE SAME RIGHT? YOU ARE JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE AREN’T YOU?”**

“I-I’m not like that and neither is anyone else!” Davis screamed.

**“THAT IS WHAT YOU THINK! ALL HUMANS ARE LIKE THIS. THINKING THEY ARE THE BEST AND THAT EVERYONE IS THE DIRT BENEATH THEIR SHOES! THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT THE COOL PEOPLE. EVEN MY OWN FRIENDS WERE LIKE THIS! THEY ALL THOUGHT HE WAS SO MUCH BETTER THAN ME AND LEFT ME BEHIND! THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT ME! I BET THAT YOUR FRIENDS DON’T EVEN CARE ABOUT YOU!”**

Davis took another step back at that. Did his friends really not care for him? No! Yeah he thought of that a few times, but he always had Ken so he had hope the others still cared for him. But then again, whoever this was, seems to be in the same situation as him. All his friends only ever thought about …. A certain teammate and never him. They even liked Ken more than him and he was evil at first! Were humans and even close friends really like that?

The mist around Davis began to come closer to the boy more and more as if it was trying to grab onto Davis and pull him further into itself. The voice began to talk louder and clearer. The words it spoke making more and more sense as they hurtful yet true sounding words began to break through the former goggle head’s heart. Tears began to roll down his cheek when he felt like his heart was about to break.

_“Da-“_  A child like voice spoke. Davis bolted his head up immediately and it seemed the dark voice had gotten quieter.

“Veemon?” Davis shouted at the voice hoping it was him.

_“Daisuke…”_

“Yeah! It’s me Veemon!”

_“Whatever you do… don’t lose hope…”_

Hope? What did Veemon mean by that?

_“There are still…. and me…”_  Veemon’s voice began to get louder and louder but more distant as the dark voice got quieter.

“I don’t understand.” Davis muttered but he looked forward anyways. It’s like he could feel Veemon. The happy memories of being with him flowing into him blocking out all the bad memories that were in him. He knew he can trust Veemon with his life and there was no way he wouldn’t! No matter what this voice said.

_“That’s the spirit Daisuke…”_  Veemon smiled.

Davis had no idea how he could tell Veemon was smiling, but he could just feel it within him that his best friend was giving him a lopsided smile right now.

“Of course. I trust you Veemon.” Davis smiled and soon the darkness started to fade showing a bright light. A blue flash appeared and Daisuke was swallowed up in it. However he knew he would be safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! Chapter One (or two) is out! Though things may not be that exciting now, in the next two chapters things will heat up!


	3. Oh Come On!

Davis woke up with a start. Though this time he felt much more refreshed. Yeah the darker side of his dream was in the back of his mind, but it was a long time he heard Veemon’s voice like that. He had dreams of seeing him again but this one felt much more real and that brought hope to him.

“Ok! I’m ready to tackle the day!” Davis shouted as he grabbed his new school uniform and ran to the bathroom.

He took a quick shower and got his new uniform on. It was a dull red jacket, with the usual white dress shirt underneath and black pants. He put it all on but left the red jacket shirt unbuttoned. He looked at the tie, cringed and just pushed it to the side. He gave his best smile to the mirror but it quickly fell.

“What am I so excited for?” Davis asked himself. The dark dream came back to his mind and he thought of what it said. All humans are like that… Was it right? He would always trust Veemon without a doubt but others seemed ready to hurt him at every corner. He sighed looking at the Digivice he brought with him and stuffed it in his pocket.

“I’m only staying here for a year so I don’t have to make friends.”

Davis stepped out of the bathroom and saw Akiko grabbing her backpack. She looked sad as she was about to leave the door.

“Well she is family…” Davis thought as he ran out the door to catch up to his cousin.

“Hey Akiko!” He shouted and the girl jumped at the yell. She turned around to look at her cousin in shock. “Want to walk to school together? I know your school is on the way to mine.”

Akiko looked taken aback by the now social Davis. He gave her a smile even though he knew it wasn’t his best. She nodded with a small smile of her own but then frowned.

“Davis… ummm…” Akiko muttered and Davis tilted his head.

“What? Not want to walk to school with me?”

“No it’s just… it’s raining.”

“…..” Davis and Akiko stood there for a moment in the pouring rain as Davis got soaked before heading back inside. Davis got his spare uniform on and made sure to grab his umbrella. Davis swore he heard a giggle from the girl as he went to change but he just shrugged it off as his imagination. Soon the two were off to school.

“So where was your dad this morning?” Davis asked as they continued down the long path and Akiko frowned.

“My dad works all the time. So he usually doesn’t have the time to say goodbye to me.” Akiko mumbled looking down.

“Oh.”

The rest of the way was in awkward silence as they walked to school. They came up to Akiko’s school and parted ways there and that’s when Davis let out a sigh he didn’t know he was holding. He made a promise to make sure he got up early to make Akiko breakfast.

Soon he got to his own school. It was smaller than his old one in Odaiba but still big enough to fit a good amount of students. He walked in and went straight to the faculty office where he was told he would be in class 1-3. He went out and began to look for his classroom when he realized that he was lost.

“I can’t be lost on the first day could I?” Davis asked himself as he face palmed. “It’s such a small school, how could I get lost?”

A girl giggled behind him and he snapped his head around to give her a glare. He stopped, however, in his tracks when he saw her. He automatically could tell it was more a teasing laugh from just looking at her pose and her eyes spoke it all. She was shorter then Davis up to about his shoulder and she wore his red uniform but with a skirt and the jacket was buttoned up. She had shoulder length brown hair and had some tied up in a pony on the right side. She also had a lion pin on her jacket collar.

“Oh sorry!” The girl apologized yet still giggled.

Davis deadpanned, “Oh because you look so sorry.”

“Oh don’t be such a boy.” She teased as she walked up to him. “I’m Jeri Katou. It’s nice to meet you.”

She stuck out her hand but Davis just nodded at her.

“Well I’m Davis Motomiya.” He greeted as the girl awkwardly put her hand back. “You don’t happen to know where class 1-3 is do you?”

Jeri smiled, “Follow me.”

She led Davis through the hallways and down the stairs to the ground floor. Of course the first years were on the ground floor. Davis did an inward groan as he and Jeri stopped in front of his class.

“You better hurry on in or you’re going to have to write an apology letter.” Jeri teased again as she rushed in.

“What? The bell hasn’t even rang yet.” Davis muttered when all of a sudden the bell rang. “Oh come on!”

After many apologizes to his teacher and the excuse of being late Davis was about to introduce himself.

“Everyone I’d like you all to meet Davis Motomiya. He is an exchange student from the city.” Mr. Yamasaki introduce pointing to Davis.

Whispers began to spread about Davis who just tried to stay calm at some of the insults being thrown at him. He looked around and saw the girl he met earlier waving at him.

“Go on and take a seat anywhere you’d like.”

Davis looked at Jeri who waved him over. He sighed as he walked over and sat by Jeri.

“No worries Mr. Yamasaki is a great teacher from what I hear. So you don’t have to worry about writing that apology letter I was talking about.”

Davis just nodded to her as his teacher began class. After six hours of boring school rules, with two of them of napping, school was finally over.

“Oh thank goodness!” Davis yawned and stretched his arms. Finally it was freedom.

“Students please stay in your classrooms there has been an incident.”

“What the heck! Why does school hate me?” Davis moaned as he hit his head against the table. Wait what incident? This is a small town so he guessed anything could be big here, but it honestly couldn’t be that big a deal right? Time to investigate!

“I wonder what happened.” Jeri muttered as she was packing up. Davis stood up and grabbed his bag and began to sneak out the door. Whatever it was, big or small, he was just too curious to not ignore it. He noticed he dropped his digivice and automatically picked up very quickly before anyone could notice it and continued on.

Davis walked down the path back to his house. He was hoping he could learn about the incident from the local town news as it was bound to travel fast when he heard someone call his name.

“Davis!” Jeri called as she caught up to him. Davis stopped and waited for the weird girl to catch up.

“What do you want Jeri?” Davis asked as he began to walk again.

 “I just wanted to walk home with you.” She said sweetly and Davis almost snorted.

“Don’t you have friends that can walk home with you?”

Jeri stopped and Davis looked back. Jeri had a slight sad face on her.

“I just moved here about a year ago so I don’t know many people yet. Plus the people of this town don’t take to kindly to strangers.”

“Oh.” Davis frowned. Man why was he making off handed remarks like that. Maybe this was why everyone found him to be annoying.

“Ruff!” A sock pocket spoke appearing right in front of Davis’s face. He jumped back from the scare to see Jeri was in control of the puppet giggling all the while.

“What was that?”

“Jeri thought you needed cheering up, so she called me!” The sock pocket stated pointing to itself.

“So did it cheer you up?” Jeri asked as she put it away. Davis wanted to laugh at how absurd it was, but then again that may be the point.

“If I say yes, will you not pull him out again?”

“No promises.”

The two began to walk again with Davis in a slightly friendlier more mood but he still kept a barrier between him, the girl and the sock puppet.

“Hey what’s that?” A student nearby asked as he pointed to where the police gathered. Some students began to gather around the scene.

“We should check it out.” Davis stated and, before Jeri could respond, moved forward.

“Hey! Wait up!” Jeri yelled following after him.

Davis was able to push past some students and looked at what they were all looking at. A dead boy was being zipped up in a body bag and being taken by the police.

“Oh my god…” Jeri whispered as she stepped back. Davis turned his head to look at her.

“Hey. Are you ok?” He asked and stepped forward. Jeri snapped her head up quickly and shook her head.

“Y-yeah I’m fine. I just have to go home now. Goodbye Davis.” Jeri stated before running off. Davis looked shocked at her fleeing and thought back to the boy. He looked way to different for him to be her brother. Then why so rattled? He decided to shrug it off for now and began to head back home again.

“Hey. I’m home” Davis announced.

“Hello.” Akiko greeted. Davis looked over at her to see her watching the news which he quickly joined her. The murder he saw early has become the storm of the town. They had just talked to the person who found the body. It was a young girl but Davis didn’t care for that as they began to tell details about the kid. Apparently the kid was around ten who had told his friends a few days before his death that he saw…. Digital… creatures… on… his computer.

Davis gripped the chair he was sitting in to stop himself from leaping forward. Digital creatures? As in DIGIMON? But how could a kid in a town like this find Digimon?

“Are you ok Daisuke?” Akiko asked and Davis jumped.

“Uh. Yep! I’m good! Just got to… uh… head to my room! Yep! See ya later!” Davis hurried as he rushed to his room.

Akiko just stared at where he went with a bewildered stare.

Davis closed his door quickly. He ran to where he kept his laptop and quickly opened it up. He looked up anything that had possibly anything to do with Digimon but nothing came up. He remembered even when he could still go to the digital world he couldn’t find anything. And when he talked to people who were there when Myotismon attacked, none of them remembered the event. So how did the kid see Digimon on his computer?!

Davis was about to give up his search until his computer beeped.

“Who would be e-mailing me at midnight?” Davis muttered grumpily as he opened the e-mail. The e-mail read as is:

_One that is destined for digital journey will die in the next two days…_

Davis looked at his e-mail shocked. Are digidestined being targeted for attacks? No. If that kid really was a digidestined he wouldn’t have talked about seeing the Digimon. Maybe the kid was going to become a digidestined? Does this mean the Digital World is in danger again?

Davis began to quickly type for a few moments. After a few minutes he sighed in defeat.

“The Digital portal is still closed.”

Another beep. Davis immediately opened the e-mail. This time it had a video attached to it. He clicked on the link and waited for a few more moments when it came on. It showed a faint silhouette of person but Davis found it too blurry to make out except that it was a girl.

“Just what is going on?” Davis asked when the video ended.

 

 

“Man we sure got lost this time.” A boy muttered as he walked through the mysterious plain. The area crackled with electricity and had walls all around with doors at some side. Though they seemed to show no real purpose because of the large cracks in the walls. “This is the last time I’m listening to you on which way we should go.”

“Aw come on boss don’t be so mean!” A yellow dinosaur whined looking around. “Plus I’m sure this is the place.”

“That’s not what my digivice is saying. But then again the stupid thing isn’t working right.”

The device in question was showing multi-colored static and when the boy press on of the three buttons it would just screech. He hit it once and it lit up a screen though it was blurry and hard to read.

“Boss what’s that?” The dinosaur asked as dark shapes began to pour from the cracks.

“I don’t know Agumon! But they certainly aren’t going to be a problem for the ultimate team!”


	4. Gazimon Meet My Fist

Davis yawned as he walked down the sunny path. He had stayed even later then he should have contemplating if he should call the other digidestined about this. He had decided against because they A: Wouldn’t take him seriously. B: Won’t even answer his calls, or C: Take up the mission and not let him help out. He did however decided to call Ken though as he did know Ken would be reasonable, but Ken didn’t ever call him back even after five calls.

  
Ken had become extremely famous after the MaloMyotismon events and rarely had time for Davis anymore. Davis understood completely of why Ken couldn’t call him and he knew Ken was too polite to turn people down on important stuff for just one friend. However it still hurt a bit to know a DNA digivolve partner couldn’t pick up his calls. Not to mention the dark nightmare kept repeating itself tonight with Veemon showing up less and less.

  
Davis arrived at school surprisingly early, well at least to him, and he seemed to be the first one in class. He sighed as he slumped in his chair when he saw Jeri walk in. Remembering the events of yesterday Davis decided to call out.

  
“Yo! Jeri!”

  
Jeri looked shocked at Davis waving at her but she smiled and sat down by him.

  
“Hi Davis. How are you?” She asked placing her backpack by her chair. Davis could barely see the sock puppet through the bag. Looking straight at him with those button eyes. Tine to change the subject for now!

  
“Uh.. I’m pretty good.” Davis lied. “How are you? You seemed pretty shaken up yesterday.”

  
“Oh I’m fine. The boy we saw in the bag happened to be an older brother to my brother’s friend so I was worried if anything happened to my brother.”

  
Davis looked concerned as Jeri looked away from him. If anything had happened to his own sister’s friends he may be a little concerned. When he was about to say something the bell rang and his classmates began to fill the classroom.

  
“I have to use the bathroom.” Jeri said as she stood up and walked out the door.

  
Davis sighed. Did he annoy her that much? He looked down back at Jeri’s bag to see the sock puppet still staring at him. He shuddered and decided to focus on other people instead.

  
Class went by extremely slowly and Jeri had gotten signed out in the middle of it. After school Davis walked by himself to home. He decided to go on off to buy some ingredients for ramen, as it was his specialty.

  
He began to walk around but, because of his bad sense of direction, got lost and somehow got into the corner of the electronics department.

  
“Why do I keep getting lost?” Davis asked to no one in particular since no one was even in that department. He walked up to one of the expensive computers when all of a sudden a voice spoke out. He couldn’t understand what it was saying but it got him in some kind of trance as he began to reach his hand out to the computer. He had no idea why he was but he kept inching closer and closer until his hand got into it.

  
“W-what?!” Davis stuttered and his Digivice began to shine brightly from his pocket. More on his arm got sucked in as the computer began to eat him. “Hey! Let me go!”

  
The computer didn’t listen as it swallowed more of the boy and soon he was completely devoured by it. Davis soon lost conscience while in the portal but his Digivice still shone brightly.

  
“Hey wake up!” A voice called out. Davis moaned and pushed the voice away with his hand.

  
“Five more minutes.” He muttered and turned over.

  
“Man Daisuke you really haven’t changed this past two years huh?”

  
Davis bolted up at the sound of his name. Only one person… er… lizard dragon knew his real name and had that voice. Davis looked at the direction of the voice and right there by him was a small blue lizard giving a cheeky grin.

  
“Veemon!”

  
Davis grabbed his partner in his arms and began to laugh from happiness in seeing him again.

  
“Dai it’s nice to see you too, but I can’t breathe!” Veemon gasped and Davis let him go immediately.

  
“Oops sorry about that buddy.”

  
After Veemon caught his breath the two began to laugh a lot to the point of tears.

  
“So anyways, where are we Veemon?” Davis asked looking at the strange terrain. There were walls all around them with huge cracks in each all them. The ceiling was completely demolished, yet you couldn’t see anything through the heavy black mist except dull blue light shinnying on Davis and Veemon that quickly disappeared. Electricity was crackling everywhere and the floors had gross green moss growing in the cracks.

  
“I honestly don’t know. But I don’t think it’s the Digital World.” Veemon answered.

  
“Why not? The Digital World probably has two maybe three of these kind of places tops.”

  
“Well I don’t even remember how in the world I got here. I was helping out at Koromon Village and sometime during last night ended up here.”

  
“What? But I got here through the computer.” Davis stated.

  
“Hey this place just doesn’t feel like it.” Veemon countered looking around again. Davis sighed. He knew Veemon had a point.

  
“Well I’ll just pull out my D-3 so we can get you to Lighdramon and get out of here.”

  
“Sounds good to me.”

  
Davis pulled out his Digivice and D-pad. Veemon closed his eyes getting ready.

  
“Ok! Digiarmor Energize!” Davis shouted yet nothing happened.

  
“I’m ready when you are!” Veemon stated.

  
“Ok. One more time! Digiarmor Energize!”

  
“….”

  
“Just say the words!” Veemon shouted. He opened his eyes and looked at himself. “Hey! What gives?”

  
“That’s what I want to know!” Davis growled and looked at his Digivice, but gasped. “Hey. It’s going nuts!”

  
Davis’s digivice kept giving static noises and beeping blue lights in between static. Davis gave it a few whacks and it seemed to beep angrily back at him. After some button mashing Davis sighed and gave up.

  
“Well I guess digivolving is out of the question.” Veemon groaned. “I was really looking forward to giving ya a ride too.”

  
“I guess it’s going to have to wait for another time.” Davis reassured. “For now, do you know which way we should go?”

  
“Not really. But I think I saw an orange light coming from that way.” Veemon pointed. Davis followed the direction of Veemon’s finger in the direction of east.

  
“Is going to the suspicious light really that good of an idea?” Davis asked and Veemon glared at him.

  
“Do you see any other way to go?”

  
“Good point. Let’s go!”

  
They walked through the ominous place in silence for a good portion of time. They jumped from some electricity cracks as they nearly hit them. Veemon kept looking behind his shoulder as if he thought someone or something was watching them.

  
“Ok! It’s official! This place is creeping me out!” Davis yelled after what felt like hours of walking.

  
“Daisuke. I think something is following us.” Veemon whispered. Davis knew Veemon wouldn’t speak his name unless he was nervous, so he began to look around. He soon noticed it seemed like the shadows around them were moving and seemed to be coming at them.

  
“Ok. All we need to do…” Davis began but stopped remembering his digivice wasn’t working and cursed under his breath.

  
“Daisuke watch out!” Veemon shouted, pushing Davis out of the way as a shadow went to strike him. Davis and Veemon sat up to see the shadow taking on a new appearance. It became smaller and grew large ears and dark silver fur.

  
“Is that a Gazimon?” Davis asked as the last two shadows took on the same form.

  
“Yeah, but it looks a lot darker than the usual Gazimon.”

  
Veemon took position as he prepared for the three to strike at him and Davis again. Davis could see Veemon gulp. He and Davis both knew that Veemon couldn’t handle all three Gazimon at once. Not even Agumon could!

  
The first one came and this time struck Veemon in the chest. Veemon stumbled and the second one saw this as its chance to completely trip him and cut Veemon’s leg. Veemon fell with a thud but jumped before the third one could hit him and countered with a punch to the face. This victory didn’t last long though as Veemon was pushed to the ground by two of the Gazimon. Davis gasped as the third, and largest one, pulled back for a final strike. Davis flung himself on top of Veemon as the third one ran up. He waited for the inevitable to come, but it never came.

  
“Spit Fire Blast!” A voice shouted and Davis felt some heat near his back.

  
“Dai! Look!” Veemon shouted. Davis looked up to see an Agumon with smoke coming out of its mouth. Davis knew it wasn’t Tai’s Agumon because it was much too big and it had red armbands on both of its claws.

  
“That’ll teach ya!” A boy that came running behind Agumon yelled. He was taller than Davis and wore a black tank top with an orange and white vest that revealed the older boy’s muscles and had khaki jeans with fake suspenders. He also wore a silver pendant around his neck. He had a small, cute white creature with large white ears with purple parts at the end flying somewhat behind him. It was carrying something, but Davis couldn’t tell what.

The Gazimon got up again and enraged by the boy's taunts, launched itself at him.

"Tsk. The never learn." The boy chuckled before launching himself at the Digimon. Davis and Veemon gasped as the boy gave a hard punch on the Gazimon's head. The Gazimon hit the ground hard, leaving an indent in the floor. The Agumon saw this as his chance and hit the Gazimon hard in the chest with his claws. The Gazimon choked before becoming black smoke and disappearing. The other Gazimons growled and started to attack the Agumon.

"Hey you and the blue lizard!" The boy shouted turning his head to Davis and Veemon. "Mind giving us a hand or do we need to do everything ourselves?"

Davis and Veemon shook their heads as they stood up. Veemon leapt into the fray to help the somewhat struggling Agumon. They seemed to be turning things around in the fight when all of a sudden the little creature from earlier flew up to Davis’s face.

"Hi!" He exclaimed. His big green eyes filled with innocence as he stared at Davis. "Wanna play?"

"Wanna play?" Davis repeated dumbfounded at how it could be so cheerful during a battle.

"Don't worry about Calumon." The boy spoke. "He asked me the same question when I first met him. Hasn't stopped following me since."

"Well you were one of the only non-scary dark blob here." The creature exclaimed. That was when Davis noticed what the creature was holding. It was the Digi-Egg of Courage! But how? Before Davis could aske he heard a yell from Veemon.

Davis turned his attention just in time to see a new dark shadow beginning to form as the Gazimon merged. It flung back Veemon and the Agumon, but the Agumon quickly recovered.

"Veemon!" Davis exclaimed rushing to his partner who started sitting up. He wrapped his arms around his injured partner. "Are you ok?"

"I'm just peachy." Veemon groaned. Davis looked back up to see that the two Gazimon had fused into a tall dragon like creature with long arms and tail. It was mostly black and had six piercing red eyes. It stood up on two muscular legs and gave a deafening roar. It seemed to be leaking black mist from a cut in its side.

 "Devidramon..." Calumon whimpered and hid behind Marcus.

"No worries we got this!" Marcus yelled. The boy leapt into the fray this time. He punched the Devidramon but the fist went right through the large Digimon.  It glared at the boy and pushed him into a wall. The Agumon gave an angry roar as he began to shoot fire balls at the large beast. It was much more effective and it seemed to stumble a bit before launching a counter attack. Davis continued to watch for a bit. Agumon and the boy tried to punch it but it failed. Then Agumon let loose a strong fire attack that made the Digimon scream in rage. 

That’s when it clicked.

"Er.. Calumon!" Davis exclaimed. Calumon jumped.

"Uh yeah..." Calumon answered.

"I need you to give me the Digiegg you have in your hands right now!"

Calumon gave him a strange look but nodded and handed him the precious item to him anyways. Veemon saw what Davis was doing and prepared to leap into the fray yet again.

"I really hope this works." Davis muttered. "Digiarmor Energize!"

"Digi what now?!" Agumon asked.

The Digiegg of Courage began to glow bright orange and Davis's Digivice began to beep again. The Digiegg zoomed out of Davis's hand and seemed to combine with Veemon. The light enveloped Veemon and he began to grow taller. The light centered to his hands, feet and arms and turned into flames. Armor resembling flames appeared where the fire was and a silver blade horn grew from the middle of the helmet. 

"Flamedramon!" The newly digivolved Flamedramon shouted. The Devidramon who had Marcus and Agumon pinned down turned to see the new challenger and growled. "Hey no need to be so rude. At least not yet."

Flamedramon hopped over to Devidramon with newfound speed. He raised a fire enveloped fist and launched a Fire Rocket at the arm holding Agumon and his partner. The creature roared and lifted its hand. Flamedramon continued his assault as Devidramon focused on him. The two below rolled out of the way and ran back toward Davis and Calumon.

"What the heck was that?" The brunette asked. "How did he digivolve? And why didn't you do so earlier!"

Davis raised his hands in an innocent way and shrugged his shoulders. He wished he knew too. Like how Calumon had the Digiegg of Courage and why his digivice hadn't worked earlier. 

They all turned their attention to Flamedramon, who at this point, grabbed Devidramon by the tail and hurled him into the wall. His whole body erupted into flames and he launched himself straight into Devidramon's chest. The Digimon gave a weak roar before disappearing in a large cloud of smoke. Davis let out a sigh as Flamedramon reverted back to Veemon. Then he felt a pat on his back so hard that he nearly fell over.

"Nice one!" The boy laughed. "Pretty good fight. Not the best, but pretty good."

"Uh. Thanks... Wait what do you mean not the best?" Davis asked.

"Well if I could have digivolved, Boss and I would have no problem beating this guy." Agumon bragged. Davis looked over at "Boss" then back at Agumon.

"Then why didn't you?" Veemon asked.

"Because this hunk of junk isn't working!" Boss shouted. He pulled out a rectangular orange device and his eyes widen. "What the... It changed! It wasn't like this when we first got here!"

Davis eyes widened at what he said. If his changed, maybe...

Davis stuck his hand in his pocket and immediately pulled out what he wanted. Yeah it had changed. Instead of the usual white and blue D-3 his digivice had become more rectangular in shape. It had a new circle pad with a button in the middle of it. It had three white oval buttons above that and two black side buttons to the left side of the digivice. On the right of it was a card reader, but he had no idea what that would do. He looked more closely at Boss's digivice and it looked identical to his, save for that Davis's was blue and white while Marcus’s was orange and black.

"Davis! What about your D-Pad?" Veemon asked. Davis nodded and began to search his pockets.

"No dice, it isn't here." Davis mumbled after a minute of searching.

"Is a D-Pad something you eat?" Calumon asked. He looked excited at the prospect of food.

"Uh no."

"Awww."

Davis shook his head and turned to the boy and Agumon, "Anyways thanks for saving us earlier."

"No problem... ummm..." Boss stopped, "Dai right?"

Davis and Veemon's eyes widen. Davis shook his head and Veemon looked nervous. Davis didn't let anyone besides Veemon and his sister, June, call him that. He didn't even want people calling him by his first name.

"No it's Davis. Davis Motomiya." Davis corrected.

"But didn't Veemon call you that earlier?" Calumon asked.

"So what are your names?" Veemon asked Boss trying to change the subject. Boss arched a brow but shrugged.

"I'm Marcus Daimon." Marcus answered.

"I'm Agumon!" Agumon exclaimed.

"Oh! I'm Calumon!" Calumon cheered. "Calu-calu-Calumon!"

"Nice that meet ya!" Veemon smiled. Davis just nodded his head which made Veemon give him a questioning look. He turned his attention back to the others. "So do you know the way out?"

"I do!" Calumon raised his hand.

"You do?" Davis asked shocked.

"Yeah he does. We were on the way there when we saw the trouble you were in." Marcus answered.

"Follow me!" Calumon exclaimed as he flew away. Marcus and Agumon followed behind him and Davis and Veemon took up the rear.

"So, you a DATS agent?" Agumon asked after a while of walking.

"A what agent?" Davis answered.

"Huh. So you’re not a part of DATS yet you have a Digivice?" Marcus spoke up. He turned on his heel and quickly snatched up Davis's a digivice, much to the latter's dislike. "How did you get this?"

"All Digidestined get one." Veemon answered. "Are you saying you aren't one?"

"I don't even know what a Digidestined is V."

"Then how did you get yours?"

"From an old fisherman." Agumon answered like it was such a natural thing.

"Well I got mine from the Digital World." Davis muttered.

Marcus gave him a confused look, "Wait the world itself gave you a digivice?"

"Well yeah. It gives it to all the Chosen Children who are destined to save the Digital World."

The explanation did no good as Marcus still had a confused look on his face. He shrugged his shoulders after a minute of thinking and tossed back Davis's digivice. 

"I didn't know that." Agumon wondered. 

"I've got to ask though. How did Calumon find the Digiegg of Courage?"

"What? Oh are you talking about the deflated beach ball?" Marcus asked. Davis nodded in response. "Actually I found it. It was just lying around and I picked it up. Agumon thought it was food...."

"It looked tasty!" Agumon objected. Marcus just punched him in the head which caused a small protest from the dinosaur.

"Well it's a good thing you didn't eat it or otherwise Veemon wouldn't have digivolved!"

"So you picked it up?" Veemon asked and Marcus nodded his head.

 "Hey who cares? The Digital World is impossible to understand. And I lived there for three years!" Marcus nonchalantly stated. Davis eyes widen at what the boy said and turned to Veemon who seemed to be in just as much shock as he was, but in a different way. 

"Hey are you..." Veemon began but soon was interrupted. 

"Here it is!" Calumon exclaimed. Davis looked around to see they were in a completely new area. The dark sky still loomed over them and Davis began to wonder if this place ever saw the sun. The ground was gray colored grass and rocks were giant and foreboding. There was other things lying about, but they were either too damaged or blended in too well to tell what they were. In the center of the area sat a T.V.

"Well I'm glad we're out of that place!" Agumon exclaimed. "Maybe now we can get something to eat!" 

"Yeah I hope there's restaurant nearby to eat at." Marcus agreed.

"Huh." Calumon mumbled then laughed. "Oh this isn't it. This is!"

Calumon pointed his finger to the old style T.V in the center. Davis and Veemon automatically knew where Calumon is going with this.

"Um. I'm pretty sure that isn't an exit." Marcus deadpanned.

"Yeah it is! I hear the voices of humans through here!"

"He’s right." Davis agreed. "This is an exit."

"Ok maybe you hit your head during the fight." Marcus argued. "There is no way that this thing is an exit."

Davis just sighed. He really just wanted to get home as fast as he could, before someone or something shows up to take Veemon away. He pulled out his digivice and motioned for Marcus to do the same, but he and Agumon stood there with their arms crossed.

"Just trust us." Veemon begged. Marcus thought over it before nodding and taking out his own digivice.

Davis kneeled down in front of the T.V and pointed his digivice at the screen. He prayed it would work this time after a full year of trying to get into the Digital World this way.

Marcus mimicked Davis's actions and Calumon flew over to see what was going on. The digivices beeped and soon the T.V turned on. It flashed to blue then orange and finally white. It gave off a blinding light and soon Davis could feel himself getting pulled in. He made sure Veemon was with him before closing his eyes and turning back to the light as it gave a final tug and pulled everyone in.

Davis reopened his eyes to see him and the others where back in the electronics section of the Inaba Department store.

"Veemon?" Davis asked he looked to see Veemon, who now de-digivolved back to DemiVeemon, lay right next him with his face in the ground. "Thank goodness."

"Wait are we back in the human world?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah looks like it." 

"Wow. It's been a while since I was last here." Marcus rolled onto his back. His face looked like it was thinking back on something and a small smile formed on his face. "Thanks Dai."

Davis was going to correct him, but the look on Marcus's made him stop. He'll let it slide for now.

"Boss! I lost my arms!" A small pink ball creature announced. It was Agumon's in training form, Koromon.

"That's because you de-digivolved idiot!" Marcus shouted and punched Koromon on the head. Koromon gave a whimper and yelled back at Marcus. Davis chuckled.

"Guys are you there?" Calumon voice spoke. Everyone turned to the computer they appeared from to see Calumon on the screen.

"Yeah we're here!" DemiVeemon answered hopping over to the computer. "Why you still over there?"

"Don't know. But I'm glad you guys are OK."

"Hey are you going to be OK in there?" Koromon asked concerned. 

"No worries I'm fine. Theirs’s a lot of cool stuff to play with here. Oh! Like this rock!"

The others gave concerned looks as Calumon flew away to get the rock. Calumon wouldn't even last an hour over there by himself.

"Well looks like we’re heading back." Marcus sighed.

"Right Boss!" Koromon agreed. Marcus pulled out his digivice, picked up Koromon and headed to the computer.

"Wait!" Davis interjected. "You just got back here! Don't you want to see your family?"

"Yeah right!" Marcus laughed. "Just kidding. I'd love to, but someone's got to make sure Calumon isn't eaten by Wolfmon!"

Davis couldn’t argue that.

"Plus Boss is too broke for a train ticket!"

"Quiet you!"

"Ow!"

Marcus punched Koromon on the head. He gave a grin to Davis and DemiVeemon before turning back to the computer. After fumbling with his digivice for a bit, Marcus pointed it at the screen and soon they both were sucked in.

Davis and DemiVeemon looked at each other. Davis then looked at his digivice. There was still so much he didn't understand. What was that place? Why did his digivice change? Is it all connected to the mysterious email? Davis sighed and put away his digivice. He looked back at DemiVeemon. For now he was Davis's top priority. He picked up his best friend and began to head home. It was late and he was sure DemiVeemon would be hungry. Maybe tomorrow they can figure something out and find out who Marcus and Agumon are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes! Marcus and Agumon (Savers) joins the group! As well as Calumon, the cutest Digimon alive! Sorry it took me so long but I was really busy. But is my longest chapter yet, so yay! Also new chapter titles for all of the chapter thus far because, why not!


	5. Past and Present Problems

Davis slipped into the bath with a sigh. With what happened today he could really use one. Not to mention it had been raining on the walk home so Davis needed to warm up with a hot bath.

"Geronimo!" DemiVeemon cheered. He jumped into the water with a large splash, which of course hit Davis.

"Oh yeah?" Davis smirked before splashing DemiVeemon with a huge wave. 

"Ah!" 

DemiVeemon fell under the wave. He swam back up to be met with a barrage of splashes.

"Stop! I surrender." DemiVeemon begged. Davis gave a small laugh before falling back to relax. He watched as DemiVeemon swam around the bath with glee. It’s been two years since he last saw him. 

Two years ago.... That was when Davis's life turned upside down. The boy looked down into the water and looked at his reflection. He and the others defeated MaloMyotismon three years ago and everything seemed perfect for him. It all changed though just a year later.

_"What do you think Gennai wants us for?" Izzy asked. He was smart and always solved problems others couldn't figure out._

_Gennai had contacted all twelve digidestined for a meeting in a beautiful meadow, but he didn't tell anyone what they would talk about. So of course it caused excitement and some anxiety._

_"Maybe his throwing us a party for saving the Digital World!" Yolie dreamed. Davis wasn't really that close to her and found her annoying at times._

_"If that's the case he owes us two parties!" Taichi, or Tai, laughed. Out of everyone here, Tai was the person Davis respected the most. He also admired him a lot._

_"What do you think Davis?" Ken asked. Ken, other than Veemon, was Davis's best friend._

_"Don't know. I'm really hoping it's a party though. I could go for something to eat." Davis joked._

_"Yeah buddy! I'm hoping theirs chocolate!" Veemon exclaimed._

_"Great now I want a party too." A boy with blonde hair and bright blue eyes agreed. He wore a white fisherman's hat. Davis rather not recall his name._

_Then with a flash of multicolored light, Gennai appeared. The face he gave made Davis shiver, but no one else seemed to notice._

_"Hello Digidestined." Gennai greeted solemnly. The excitement from earlier quickly died from the tone Gennai gave._

_"Gennai what's wrong?" Tai was the first to speak up._

_"I afraid I carry bad news."_

_"What?" "Did something happen?" "Is someone trying to take over the world again?"_

_Everyone began to ask different questions. Gennai just stood there, as if he was stalling for time. Davis wanted to know so badly that he just shouted._

_"Can you just tell us already?" Davis realized later why Gennai was holding off on telling them. And the answer that he was about to receive would make him feel sick._

_Everyone became silent as Gennai opened his mouth._

_"I'm sorry but you will need to say goodbye to your partners."_

_Everyone stood there in silence. No one dare spoke a word. Did Gennai mean what everyone thought he meant?_

_"Gennai when you say that do you mean..." It was the blonde from earlier. His face had become pale as he looked over to an orange pig like creature with huge wings at his feet._

_"I'm sorry, but yes. You will need to say goodbye to them and head back to your own separate worlds."_

_"What? Why?!" "Gennai!" "You can't be serious!"_

_The voices swirled around Davis as reality of what was going on hit him. Veemon, his best friend, was being taken away from him. Gennai said something about a barrier and how it was being chipped away at from going back and forth between the Digital World and how they needed their Digimon partners to help maintain balance in the Digital World, but Davis didn't care._

_He looked around to see everyone had already given up and were saying goodbye to each of their own partners. How and why were they giving up so easily?! He looked to Veemon who still looked shocked. His best friend in the two worlds. The one guy he could talk to about anything and everything. Davis looked back up to the others giving teary goodbyes. He wasn't going to say goodbye!_

_Davis grabbed Veemon and rushed into the forest nearby. Davis kept running and running at full sprint, hoping no one would follow after them. After a few minutes he got tired and took a break with Veemon, who was surprisingly quiet._

_"Daisuke..." Veemon muttered. Davis knew what he was thinking and he knew he was right. No matter how far or how fast they could run, they would be found and forced to be separated._

_"Why? Why?!" Davis cried. He punched the tree in front of him multiple times. When his knuckles got bloody he just hit his head once against it and left it there. He cried and sobbed for what felt like forever. He felt Veemon pat his leg. Why? Why did he have to lose him?_

_"Davis?" A voice called. Davis immediately wiped his tears and looked up to see the blonde from earlier walk up._

_"What?" Davis responded coldly. He didn't want to deal with him or any of the others right now._

_"Are you ok?"_

_Davis shot him a glare. He didn't care if he was sincere or not, he did not want his pity out of everyone on the planet._

_"Oh I'm just peachy T.K!" Davis snapped. T.K took a step back. "Why don't you just head back to comforting Hikari or something?! Or just head back and leave me alone. I'm sure the others would just love to comfort YOU!"_

_T.K's eyes flared up in anger and he took a step further but didn't come any closer. Davis took his own step closer. Veemon looked between the two of them. With what was going on the two might actually get into a fist fight!_

_"What makes you think that?" T.K yelled. "And what gives you the right to snap at someone who just came to see if you were ok?"_

_"You wouldn't understand!"_

_"I wouldn't understand? I lost Patamon five years ago! I thought I'd never see him again. And you don't even know what happened before that! So if anyone who shouldn't understand it's you!"_

_That teared it. Davis leapt at T.K and punched him in the face. The blonde easily recovered and counter with a fist of his own. Davis growled and pushed T.K and himself down into the ground. They rolled around for a bit before the felt something get in-between them and pushed them apart. It was Veemon._

_T.K stood up and Davis turned his head. He didn't know what look T.K gave Davis but all he knew was T.K gave him one and that was enough to get his blood boiling again._

_He heard footsteps and turned to see T.K was gone. Whatever. T.K already had everyone clamoring to comfort him. All he really had was Veemon._

_Davis, without looking, grabbed Veemon and embraced him. Fresh tears came to his eyes as he held his best friend in arms. He heard sobs from Veemon and soon his own joined him._

"Dai? Daisuke!" DemiVeemon shouted, breaking Davis out of his flashback. 

"Uh yeah buddy?"

"I think we'll start pruning up if we stay in here any longer." 

Davis nodded as he stepped out and grabbed a towel. He dried himself and DemiVeemon before putting on some underwear and a dark blue bath robe. When he stepped out he saw Akiko standing outside the door.

"What's that?" She asked pointing to DemiVeemon who was on his shoulder. 

"Oh uh it's a toy!" Davis panicked. 

"A toy!?" Akiko asked excitedly as she grabbed Davis's arm. This is the most happy Davis ever saw her. "Can I see it?"

"Oh um." Davis hesitated. He felt DemiVeemon elbow. "Sure."

"Oh wow." Akiko gasped when she got a hold of DemiVeemon. "He's so cute!"

She hugged DemiVeemon and gave a small giggle. Davis chuckled as she tossed him up and caught him. She seemed to be having fun.

"Akiko? You need to get to bed!" Mochida shouted from the living room. She gave a small aw. She handed back DemiVeemon to Davis and went back to her old quiet self, then went into bed.

"Your home Uncle Mochida?" Davis asked. He walked into the living room to see Mochida slumped on the couch drinking some beer.

"Yeah. Is it really that strange?"

A little. But Davis didn't say it out loud. Instead he said, "Uh well I'm going to bed. So see you tomorrow?"

"Daisuke. Come here."

Davis sighed and walked to his uncle. It was never easy trying to get away. 

Mochida stood up and gave Davis a hard pat on the back. 

"Thanks for letting Akiko play with your toy. I never really buy her any."

"Oh sure. No problem." Davis responded modestly. Though the praise did stroke his ego a bit.

Mochida smiled and began to walk to the bathroom. Before that he turned around and smiled.

"Next time, don't take so long in the bathroom, I nearly...."

"Don't want to know!" Davis shouted before rushing into his room. Mochida gave a hearty laugh before going into the bathroom. 

"Well they seem nice." DemiVeemon spoke as Davis closed the door. 

"Yeah I guess." Davis responded with a mumble. 

"So what did you want to show me?"

"Oh yeah! I think it has something to do with the Digital World."

Davis rushed over to the couch and hopped onto it. He pulled the laptop off the desk and set it on his lap. DemiVeemon rolled off his shoulder and landed on the free lap space in front of the computer. 

"OK just gotta get onto my e-mail." Davis said to himself as he began to search through his e-mails. No new e-mails, what a shocker. He looked through it several times but didn't find the e-mail from before.

"It's not here." 

"Did you delete it?" DemiVeemon asked.

Davis shook his head, "No I was saving it in case I needed to contact the others but looks like that wasn't going to happen."

"How about we contact them?"

"Let's not."

"Huh? Why Dai?"

"Just.... Because ok. I'll tell you later."

Before DemiVeemon had time to respond a new email appeared. No sender. Just like last time. Davis automatically opened the email and read it. Or would have if it only didn't come with just a video. He clicked and it began to play. 

A girl he never met before was walking around a foggy area. Davis could tell one thing though, she was wearing his new school's uniform. Soon the fog seemed to surround her and Davis could see her silhouette writhing in pain. He gasped as the screen turned black and yellow letters appeared.

They read:

_Two digidestined gone._

_Will a third appear?_

_Or will you keep meddling in digital affairs?_

_Up to you...._

_D.M...._

_M.D..._

_J.K...._

Davis closed the laptop. What did that all mean? It was obviously related to the Digital World. It even said something about digital affairs. 

"Daisuke. Who are D.M, M.D, and J.K?" DemiVeemon asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Davis responded. "I'm more curious about what it means that two digidestined are gone."

"I think you know what that means."

Davis sighed. DemiVeemon was right. More likely than not, those two were dead. And that means whoever D.M, M.D and J.K are, they have something to do with the murders and the Digital World.

"Ugh! I'm not good at solving puzzles!" Davis shouted.

"How about we think about this tomorrow?" DemiVeemon suggested. Davis nodded as he slipped him and DemiVeemon in bed.

"Night DemiVeemon."

The next morning, after walking Akiko to school. 

"I can't wait to see your new school!" DemiVeemon whispered excitedly from Davis's backpack.

"Well I guess it's nice. But the kids spread rumors there faster than a wildfire."

"I'm sure it's not that bad."

"I'm already treated like I'm the weird outsider kid on only the third day of school."

"Oh."

"Hey Davis!" A voice called. Davis turned around in time to see Jeri catch up to him. "How's it going?"

"Good. I guess." Davis answered. He looked more closely at Jeri to see she was a bit pale. Her eyes also had a tired look on them. "Are you?"

"Huh? M-me? I'm fine. Totally ok!" Jeri panicked. She looped to behind him and before he could say a word, "What's this?"

Davis whipped around to see Jeri holding DemiVeemon in her hands, who was trying his best to act like a stuffed toy. Davis quickly took DemiVeemon out of Jeri's hands.

"Oh this? Just a toy." Davis nervously laughed. Jeri looked closely at DemiVeemon then back at Davis. 

"I didn't take you as the boy who secretly kept toys in his backpack."

"Uh...." Davis put DemiVeemon back in his bag and tried to come up with an argument or excuse of some kind. "I'm full of surprises?"

Jeri gave him a look Davis couldn't quite tell what it meant. Was it curiosity? Amusement? Or weirded out?

"Hey Davis do you..." Jeri began but was stopped when the school's bell went off. 

"Looks like it's time for class! See ya there Jeri!" Davis said quickly before entering the school, leaving Jeri at the gate. 

"Davis. Was that really a Digimon?" Jeri mumbled before following after Davis.

Later after school, Davis could feel like something was up with Jeri. She gave him looks and then looks at his backpack, yet didn't say a word.

"Jeri...." Davis finally said.

"Yes?"

"I feel uncomfortable with you staring at me like that."

"Huh?" Jeri gasped. Davis sighed. She thought she was being sneaky wasn't she? "O-oh sorry. It's just about that thing you had earlier."

Davis began to sweat and he felt DemiVeemon fall over in his backpack in shock.

"Davis. Is it a....."

"Yo! Dai!" A voice called. Davis sighed in relief. He turned around to see Marcus running after him.

"Hey! Marcus! And it's Davis!" Davis responded as Marcus stopped by them.

"Oh. Sorry Dai."

_"And yet you continue to call me that anyway."_ Davis thought.

"Um... Who is this?" Jeri asked. Davis turned to Jeri. 

"Oh this is Marcus Daimon." Davis answered. Marcus gave a wave before pulling Davis to the side.

"Dai. There's a problem. I need you to come with me, back to the Digital World." Marcus whispered.

"What? Why?" Davis asked.

"Just listen to the boss!" A voice said. Davis shocked, looked down to see Marcus's digivice glowing and speaking to him.

"Agumon?"

"Yes. But we don't have time to talk about this!" Marcus hissed.

"Jeri!" Davis spoke. "I need to go with Marcus somewhere. So see ya!"

"Wait!" Jeri called, but it was too late. Davis and Marcus turned around and ran down the road. Davis rather not have Jeri asking questions, she was already asking about DemiVeemon.

"Turn here!" Marcus commanded. Davis turned with Marcus to see some cops walking around. 

"Why are we here?" DemiVeemon asked. 

"Look." Marcus pointed to what Davis was fearing. A dead body of a girl lay in a body bag before being zipped up. He barely looked, but Davis knew where he saw that girl before. 

"Davis isn't that the girl from the video?" DemiVeemon asked.

"Wait. What video?" Marcus asked.

"This may not be the best place to talk about it." Davis suggested, nodding over to the crowd of students coming to check out the scene.

The boys walked out of sight and walked toward Inaba Department Store. They snuck over to the computer section. After looking at the other computers, they discovered that the one they came out of last time was the only one they could contact Calumon through.  

"Odd." Davis muttered. "My digivice had the data to open a portal on any computer."

"Well we can still go through the other ones but Calumon isn't gonna be there." Marcus spoke. "So for now let's get in there before anyone else sees us."

Davis nodded as he pulled out his digivice out. The boys pointed the devices at the computer and soon were pulled in.

"Hey Dai!" Calumon called as he flew into Davis's arms. "Welcome back!" 

Davis nodded at that before turning to Marcus. 

"So why did you drag us over here?"

"It's because of what Calumon told us!" Agumon exclaimed coming out of Marcus's digivice. Davis looked shocked and looked at his own digivice. Could Veemon do that?

"What did he tell you?" Veemon asked. Everyone turned to the cute little creature in Davis's arms.

"Oh! I sensed someone in here last night!" Calumon exclaimed. "And it wasn't you guys!"

"What?!" Davis and Veemon exclaimed.

"Why didn't you tell us while we were here?" Davis asked.

"I didn't sense them until it was really, really dark out." Calumon whimpered. 

"It's always dark here."

"Yeah but it was even darker and scarier!"

Davis sighed. They weren't going to get anywhere at this rate.

"So they were here after Davis and I left?" Veemon asked. 

"Yep, yep! It was also while Marcus and Agumon were napping!"

"Ok. Is that all?" 

"No." Calumon whimpered as his ears shrunk. "Something really bad happened."

Calumon didn't seem up to talking any more so Marcus stepped in.

"Basically, after Agumon and I woke up, he had a feeling that someone was here. Then before we could go to check it out, he told us he felt something really bad happened to the person and then they were gone."

"And you think the girl we found dead was the bad thing?" Veemon asked.

Marcus and Agumon nodded.

"We were coming to get you when we came across the body." Agumon explained.

"So it all the murders come from here." Davis muttered. "And an email shows up before they die."

"Wait what email?" Marcus asked. 

"Davis got this weird email that showed the girl before she died." Veemon answered. He went on to explain the email after and the message after it.

"So M.D, D.M, and J.K are people interfering with the Digital World?" Marcus asked. "Then who are they?"

"If I knew I would have told you already!" Davis growled in frustration. "Until we can learn more we really can't do anything to stop them in the human world."

"Argh! That's so frustrating!" Agumon yelled. "I just want to beat this guy up!"

"Yeah. Guess we'll have to stay here a little longer." Marcus agreed. Davis could have sworn Marcus frowned a bit before turning back to Davis. "Anyways you better head back in case another e-mail shows up."

"R-right." Davis agreed. Veemon nodded to him as the both turned to the T.V and headed back.

"Looks like we have a new adventure." DemiVeemon stated after he and Davis returned home.

"Yeah." Davis muttered as a quickly slipped his pajamas on.

"Daisuke. Are you sure you don't want to call the others for this?" 

Davis snapped his head around, "Yes. And you can't change my mind."

"Just checking." DemiVeemon said. Davis gave a yawn before slipping into his bed. DemiVeemon waited until he was sure Davis was asleep before hopping over to the said boy's computer. He gave a quick check before giving a sigh. Surprisingly he found a new email that went straight to spam. 

"Now who would send Davis an email this late?" DemiVeemon muttered. He gave it a quick look. He gave a gasp at the sender and sent a look to Davis and then to the email. "Now why would...."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man I took forever to update and then left a cliffhanger. Well anyways its updated and I hope you all enjoy it!


	6. Chapter 5

"Why is it always raining?" Davis shouted. Akiko giggled from under her umbrella, one arm tightly holding DemiVeemon.

"Well it usually isn't this rainy." Akiko mumbled. "It's usually very sunny this time of year."

"You could have fooled me!" Davis grunted as they stopped in front of Akiko's school. With some effort, Davis was able to get DemiVeemon and head off to his own school.

"So what are we going to do?" DemiVeemon asked.

"I don't know. Try to stop the murders I guess." Davis answered. "But doing that by ourselves is going to be hard. Especially since you can't digivolve, my digivice transformed so I don't know how it works, and we don't have the digiegg of friendship."

"A lot of that is true Dai, but we do have Marcus and Agumon to help us out. And Calumon too."

Davis just sighed. How could DemiVeemon be so trusting? He thought he could trust his friends, but he figured out quickly they wanted nothing to do with him.

"Daisuke...." DemiVeemon whispered. He was about to continue when they heard the school bell ring.

"Better get in the bag." Davis mumbled as he put DemiVeemon in the bag.

"Hi Davis!" Jeri greeted cheerfully as the taller boy entered the room.

Davis didn't say anything as he took a seat next to Jeri. He placed his head on the desk, preparing to fall asleep when the lesson would start.

"Davis? Are you ok?" Jeri asked worriedly as she shook the tanned boy. He turned his head away from her with a huff. 

"Yeah I'm ok. Can you just leave me alone?" Davis demanded. Jeri was taken aback but nodded and turned away. 

 _"Daisuke don't be so rude!"_ DemiVeemon huffed from Davis's backpack. 

Davis shivered as he felt the glare he was receiving from DemiVeemon through the backpack. He knew he wouldn't here the end of it unless he apologized right now to Jeri, so he turned his head to said girl.

"Look I'm sorry, I just got a lot on my mind right now." Davis apologized. 

Jeri turned her head to him. Her cheeks were puffed with anger and she had her arms crossed.

"Well, OK. I guess it was rude of me to bother you." Jeri mumbled then smiled. "To make it up to me you have to have eat with me after school!"

Davis was about tell her no and why would he make it up to her when it was her fault, when he felt a kick from his backpack. 

"Sure."

"Really? Great! I have a really nice treat! Just wait here when it's time for go because I left something in the girls' locker room."

After classes and a couple of naps that Davis had that were rudely interrupted by the teachers, school was over. Soon Davis was left all alone when other students filed out of the classroom to meet with their friends.

"Why did you make me agree to that?" Davis asked after making sure he was completely alone. 

"Come on Dai, you need to make friends and why not her?" DemiVeemon answered.

"Maybe because I don't want to make friends?" 

"Daisuke..."

"I'm back!" Jeri announced. Davis shushed DemiVeemon and turned his attention to Jeri. "Sorry it took me so long I didn't expect so many people crowding the halls still."

Davis just nodded as he reached into his backpack for the sandwich he had made this morning. As he did he felt an intense stare from DemiVeemon and sighed. He had to start up a conversation or otherwise he wouldn't hear the end of it from his best friend. 

"So what do you have for lunch?" Davis asked as Jeri pulled out a basket. She seemed surprised that Davis asked but smiled anyway.

"I brought this!" Jeri exclaimed as she removed the small sheet off the basket. In it was a wide variety of baking goods that astonished Davis. A lot of them were shaped like different types of food.

"Want to try one?" Jeri asked. Davis nodded as he grabbed a random thing. When Davis looked over it he realized that he has seen this shape before. It looked a bit like....

"Uh Jeri what is this supposed to look like? A rabbit?" Davis asked as he waves the rabbit shaped bread in his hand. 

"It's actually a terrier dog. I mean!" Jeri answered. She seemed a bit flustered over her answer which made Davis suspicious. He knew now what exactly the bread was shaped like and he had a good guess that the rest of the bread is meant to be shaped like too. Even if he didn't recognize some of the Digimon.

"Well you see..." Jeri interrupted Davis's thoughts. "A friend of mine from another city made these for me to eat so I don't really know exactly what they are meant to look like."

"Well ok then." Davis responded. He was still suspicious, after all she was incredibly interested in DemiVeemon yesterday.

"Well I have to go now!" Jeri said abruptly as she stood up.

"Huh? Wait!" Davis shouted, but it was too late as Jeri had already grabbed her backpack and was out the door.

  _"Wait. Was she crying?"_ Davis thought. 

"Dai! What happened?" DemiVeemon asked as he poked his head out of the backpack. 

"How am I supposed to know?" Davis retorted. He gave a sigh before turning to the abandoned bread. "Anyways, take a look at this."

Davis handed DemiVeemon the bread. He waited as DemiVeemon gasped at what he saw.

"These are Digimon! I don't recognize some of them but they are definitely Digimon." DemiVeemon finally said.

"I figured. I mean this one looks like Terriermon." Davis agreed.

"Do you think Jeri knows about Digimon?" 

"I'm not too certain about it. She said a friend of hers made it." Davis contemplated. "And she really doesn't have a reason to lie either."

"Then we should trust her!" DemiVeemon announced. "I mean she hasn't done anything bad. Plus if she really does know, she's only trying to keep it a secret to protect Digimon."

"And what if she's not?" Davis asked which took DemiVeemon a back.

"What do you mean Dai?" 

"What if she does know but isn't hiding it to protect Digimon but to protect herself."

"Dai I'm not following...."

"What I mean is, she is the one killing the children. She may know about Digimon and how to get to that weird digital place like we do. She could take the kids there, kill them, and then take them back to send some sort of weird message or something! Like with what the e-mail said!"

"Daisuke. Why would you think that?"

"Some Digidestined just can't be trusted." Davis muttered. DemiVeemon couldn't help but frown at what Davis said. "Come on let's head home."

"Daisuke...." DemiVeemon mumbled as he secretly put bread into the backpack.

"Daisuke!" Akiko cheered as the mahogany haired boy entered the house.

"Oh. Hey Akiko." Davis answered as he took off his shoes. "Want to play with DemiVeemon again?" 

Akiko nodded eagerly. Davis sighed as he pulled his friend out of his bag and handed it to the red head. She squealed with joy as she took the in-training and ran around the room giggling.

Davis just watched for a bit before tossing the bread he kept in the fridge and looking at his watch. 5:00 p.m. He decided to check what the mysterious e-mail to see if anything new popped up. 

"Nothing huh." Davis mumbled. “Well I just see what I can eat in the meantime.”

…

“You have to be kidding me.”

Inside the fridge was just a couple of leftover takeout that looked pretty old, a few snack foods and a few drinks that Davis was pretty sure he was underage to drink half of them.

“I guess Dad forgot to get groceries even though he promised… Again…” Akiko mumbled as she somehow got in front of Davis.

“Yeah I guess.” Davis mumbled. “Hey where is your dad anyways?”

Akiko just shrugged her shoulders before going back into the living room to play with DemiVeemon once again.

 _“Maybe humans are really bad after all. Maybe my nightmares are right.”_ Davis thought before closing the fridge door. He gave a sigh. This is no way someone should eat like this. He dug through his backpack really quickly and took out his wallet. _“This should be enough I guess…”_

“Hey Akiko I’m going out to buy groceries.”

“Huh?” Akiko seemed taken aback at what Davis said. “But I’m usually the one who buys them!”

 _“Aren’t you only in second grade?”_ Davis thought before shaking his head.

“I’ll do it. Just stay here and watch the house until I come back.” Davis pushed as he headed to the door.

“Wait!” Akiko yelled.

“What?”

“Thank you Daisuke.”

Now it was Davis’s turn to be taken aback. He made sure not to turn around all the way to nod at her to make sure neither she nor DemiVeemon could see him blush. Because if he did he would never hear the end of it from DemiVeemon.  He quickly walked out of the house and rushed to the department store as fast as he could.

“Ok. I got the eggs, milk, noodles…” Davis mumbled as he checked each item he had in the shopping cart. “Great. Now all I need to do is grab some bags of chips for DemiVeemon.”

Davis walked around the store for about the twelve time when he arrived. He soon found where the chips were kept and was about to grab the last bag he needed when he heard an interesting conversation near him.

“Have you heard of those weird e-mails everyone’s been getting since the school year started?” One loud girl asked her friend.

“You mean those ones that show fuzzy images of people on the screen? Yeah I’ve seen it.” The gossiping girl answered.

“Well apparently they only show up at midnight for some reason and then they disappear by 1:00 am.”

“Yeah I heard. Also when you try forwarding it to others it won’t work and then the e-mail still disappears! Not to mention they only appear on rainy days. I mean what’s up with that?”

Davis dropped the chips he was holding and whipped out his phone.

6:30. Still about six hours until the e-mail is sent and it was still raining when he arrived at the store.

Davis, realizing the girls were now looking at him, picked up the bag of chips and headed to checkout to head home.

“Daisuke welcome back.” Akiko greeted as she walked to the door.

“Oh. Hi.” Davis responded as he put the groceries away. He laid out some ingredients he was going to use to make ramen.

“Do you need help cooking?”

“No. I’ll be fine. Go on and play or watch T.V.”

“Ok.” Akiko sadly mumbled as she slowly walked back to the living room.

Davis quickly assembled the cook ware he need and began to get to work. He chopped the vegetables and let the noodles boils for about four minutes. He stirred it for a bit before checking on the soup he was making beforehand, added the vegetables, and made sure it was ready. He drained the noodles and poured them evenly into the two bowls Akiko secretly put up. He then poured in the soup and tasted his before deciding it was done.

“Ok here you go.” Davis finally spoke as he placed the bowl on the table in front of Akiko.

“Woah!” Akiko breathed as she looked over the food. “Did you make this from scratch?”

“Sort of. The noodles came cut for me, but the rest is from scratch.”

“Wow. Thanks Daisuke!”

Davis just blushed and nodded before digging into the bowl in front of him. Akiko soon followed suit and gasped when she took her first bite.

“Is it bad?” Davis asked looking up from his bowl for a brief second. Did he screw up?

“No way! It’s delicious!” Akiko cheered as she began to dig in at a faster rate.

“Oh. Um… Thanks.”

Soon Davis put Akiko to bed and cleaned up the dinner they had leftover.

“Daisuke.” DemiVeemon sang.

“Don’t. Say. It.” Davis sighed.

“You were blushing.~” DemiVeemon continued.

“Oh yeah?” Davis smirked. He grabbed the small dragon by the neck and gave him a noogie.

“Ow! Ow! Ok! I’ll stop! I’ll stop!”

“Good!” Davis laughed. “Oh hey what time is it anyways?”

“Ummm….” DemiVeemon hummed as he took a look at the clock on the wall. “11:55. Why?”

“The e-mail!” Davis gasped as he grabbed DemiVeemon and rushed to his room.

“Huh? What about the e-mail? Did anything pop up?”

“I don’t know. But from what I overheard at the store, apparently everyone gets the e-mails come at midnight and disappear at 1:00 a.m.”

“Wait if everyone gets the e-mails then why isn’t there panic of when it says people are dead.”

“I, ah well.” Davis stumbled. “I don’t really know.”

“Hmmmmm..” DemiVeemon hummed.

“Argh!” Davis yelled. “I’m not good at this!”

“Hey. We’ll figure it out. Just not now.”

Davis just began to mumble about how he wasn’t good at puzzles with DemiVeemon trying to convince him otherwise, when.

*BEEP*

“”The e-mail”” Davis and DemiVeemon shouted at once. Davis hurriedly grabbed his laptop and opened the new mail.

“Another video.” DemiVeemon noted. Davis gulped as he pressed play on the video.

 _“Hello one and all!”_ Jeri exclaimed. Davis and DemiVeemon could do nothing but gasp at what they saw. Jeri was in the video wearing a white coat that went down to just a bit below her ankles and a stethoscope was around her neck. 

“What the…” DemiVeemon whispered. Davis hushed him as the video continued.

 _“I would just love to welcome you all to Jeri Katou’s Hospital!”_ Jeri continued in a sing song voice. _“Here we will look at all our patients with great care and watch….”_

Suddenly Jeri’s voice becomes low and menacing.

_ “…as they all slowly die….” _

Then it changes back to the sing song voice.

_ “Now please stay tuned for this fun and exciting adventure of watching all our patients get better or worse. Please stay tuned for this dramatic series!” _

The video goes into static then reads the familiar words;

_A third has appeared…_

_What will you do now?_

_Will you save her?_

_Will you let her die?_

_Do you even care at all?_

_Time to make a choice;_

_D.M_

_M.D_

_~~J.K~~ _

_You have 10 days to decide…._

“What the heck was that?” Davis finally shouted.

“I-I don’t know. This has never happened before.” DemiVeemon responded looking completely dumbfounded. “Has Jeri ever acted like that before?”

“No! I mean I don’t know! I’ve only been here for a few days!”

Davis sighed and rubbed his temples. Seriously, what was that? Why Jeri? Does Jeri really act like that or was that a fake Jeri? All these questions made his head hurt.

“Wait…” Davis gasped. “Don’t people only appear if they are digidestined or meant to be digidestined?”

“Yeah I think so…” DemiVeemon confirmed.

“Then doesn’t that mean Jeri is what we’ve been thinking she is?”

“Well it could also mean she is meant to be a digidestined.”

“Ugh! All this thinking makes my head hurt!”

Davis gripped his head in frustration. He usually left all the thinking to Ken and Izzy. He was just the guy who would be on the front lines and fight, not be a braniac!

“Maybe we should sleep on it, head to the Digital World tomorrow and talk about this with Marcus and Agumon?” DemiVeemon suggested. Davis nodded his head in agreement as he pulled the blanket over the both of them. Maybe a goodnight’s rest will do them some good to help them figure out just what is going on.

“Daisuke?” DemiVeemon whispered.

“Yeah?”

“We’ll figure this out and help her right?”

Davis blinked and looked at the little dragon in his arms. Even if he wanted to say no, he couldn’t refuse those eyes.

“Of course DemiVeemon. I promise.”

DemiVeemon smiled before closing his eyes and fell asleep.

 _”Just what have gotten myself into now?”_ Davis thought before he followed DemiVeemon and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does my eyes deceive me? A new chapter? I'm so sorry that it took me forever to get this chapter up, but I'll post this and many more that I've written since I had that hiatus. I hope you all enjoy!


	7. Beginning of Bonds

“Hey.” A voice spoke. “Hey! Open your eyes already!”  
  
“We are not to speak to our guests like.”  
  
“Sorry master.”  
  
Davis groaned in response to the familiar voice and opened his eyes to the find himself once again in the very blue carriage setting.  
  
“Oh god. I’m back here?” Davis grumbled as he turned his attention to both Igor and Helena. “Is this going to be some sort of recurring dream or something?”  
  
“Excuse me but this place is a realm between both dream and reality! Didn’t we explain this to you last time?” Helena huffed. Davis looked away. He wasn’t about to admit that he wasn’t really paying attention that much.  
  
“A-anyways, why am I here again if this is a place between dream and reality anyways?”  
  
“Last time you were here we had explained that you would find yourself bound to a contract no?”  
  
“Uhhhh….”  
  
Helena sighed, “Yes, yes we did.”  
  
“Sheesh! I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention, I thought it was a dream!” Davis shouted and Helena glared.  
  
“But we had stated that this place….”  
  
“A place between mind and matter, dream and reality, etcetera, etcetera. Can you just tell me why I’m here?”  
  
“Well with and attitude like that!” Helena hissed and turned away.  
  
“Helena remember to treat your guests with respect.” Igor finally spoke.  
  
“Huh.” Helena huffed before turning back to Davis and giving him a forced smile. “We have called you back to the Velvet Room here to give you this.”  
  
Helena stood up. Davis was quite surprised at how short she was, a bit below Jeri’s shoulder. Before he could make certain of it the girl in the blue dress was already in front of him, handing him a blue key.  
  
“Is everything blue in here?” Davis thought before taking the key from the girl who went back to her seat immediately after.  
  
“So what’s this for?” Davis asked.  
  
“That key allows you access to the Velvet Room at any time and use our services. Please keep it close to you.” Igor explained. Davis quirked a brow before shoving the key in his pocket.  
  
“Ok. I see, but, again, why? Why give me this key?”  
  
“As we have stated only souls that are bound by a contract may enter.” Helena explained. “During your adventure your soul has awakened to a potential within you and allowed you to gain a new power. And as long as you abide by your contract then we will assist you in anyway possible.”  
  
“A new power?”  
  
“Yes. This power will allow you to solve this mystery and save the Digital World and the Real World yet again.” Igor added.  
  
“I think I understand.” Davis mumbled. In all honestly he didn’t really get it, but he’ll just roll with it for now.  
  
“Very well.” Igor nodded. “The power you have obtained is another side of yourself that you show to world around you and that power goes into your partner, Veemon.”  
  
“My power has always already gone into Veemon already. How is this any different?” Davis asked.  
  
“This new power allows Veemon, and you as well, to do things that you were not able to do before.” Helena explained. “No worries you’ll figure it out once the time is right.”  
  
“Doesn’t Marcus also have this power? His digivice is looks just like mine now.”  
  
“Yes Marcus does have a similar power to yours.”  
  
“Then why ask me? That guy punched a Digimon for Pete’s sake!”  
  
“Your power, unlike Marcus’s, is special.”  
  
“Huh? Special? In what way?”  
  
“Your power is that of the wild card.” Igor stated. A card appeared before him. It seemed to have a man about to fall off of a cliff. It had the number zero at the bottom. “It is like the number zero, empty, but holding infinite potential.”  
  
“Wait. So I’m empty?” Davis asked depressed. He placed his hand on his chest. He can’t believe he even gets insulted in his dreams.  
  
“No not in the way you think.” Helena interjected. “Your emptiness is from being nothing, it’s about the infinite potential you have inside of you and how you use that potential to become something great.”  
  
“I-I see.” Davis stuttered. Infinite potential and power? It sounded nice, but why him? Why does he have it and why is it only mattering right now and not the other times the Digital World was in danger.  
  
“However this power comes from the control of one’s heart.” Igor began, snapping Davis out of his thoughts. “And the heart is strengthened through bonds. As you form bonds by becoming involved with those around you, your own social links will gradually develop. This social links will determine Veemon and the Digimon you connect to abilities.”  
  
“Through bonds?” Davis asked uncertainly. He didn’t want to make friends in this town, and now he is being told that he has to make friends to save the world.  
  
“Yes. But they don’t just strengthen your Digimon, they also at times help you see the truth and light your path.” Helena added on.  
  
“Do I really need to?”  
  
“That is all up to you.”  
  
“Where will this new power take you? I look forward in helping you find the truth you seek.” Igor chuckled. “Until we meet again.”  
  
“Hey wait!” Davis shouted. It was too late though as soon as Igor had said that, the world faded to black.

 

“Dai! Dai! Wake up!” DemiVeemon shouted.  
  
“Huh?” Davis mumbled as he sat up. He looked around. Back in his room in Inaba. What was Igor and Helena talking about before? He groaned as he fell back into his bed.  
  
“Dai! Get up!”  
  
“I’m up, I’m up.”  
  
Davis rolled out of bed and headed to his closet. He pulled out his uniform and was about to put it on.  
  
“Daisuke. It’s Sunday right? Do you go to school every day now?” DemiVeemon asked and Davis looked at his uniform before tossing it back in.  
  
“Thank god I don’t.”  
  
Davis pulled out a white tank top, blue jacket and black jeans. He quickly put it all on and grabbed his digivice.  
  
“I wonder why it changed.” DemiVeemon pondered as he hopped into Davis’s bag.  
  
“Maybe some new power we have.” Davis repeated what the blue roomed people told him.  
  
“Hmmm. That could be true. Just like how T.K’s and Kari’s changed.”  
  
DemiVeemon’s eyes widened when he realized what he just said. Davis clenched his digivice tightly before stuffing it in his pockets.  
  
“Daisuke I didn’t mean too.”  
  
“I know. Let’s just go.” Davis muttered before picking up the backpack and swinging onto his shoulder. “Sorry.”  
  
Davis walked into the living room and looked around. It looked like Akiko was watching T.V and Mochida was gone. He quickly headed over to the kitchen and, with secret help from DemiVeemon, was able to make pancakes and bacon for Akiko. She thanked him before Davis walked out and headed to Inaba department store.  
  
“Dai!” A familiar voice yelled while Davis was walking into the electronics section. Davis looked up to see Marcus running up to him.  
  
“Hey.” Davis greeted somberly.  
  
“Hey you ok?” Marcus asked tilting his head. “You seemed a bit bummed out. And you didn’t correct me either.”  
  
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Do you know?”  
  
“Know? Oh you already know about it too?”  
  
“Yeah. The e-mail remember?”  
  
“Yeah I do. Anyways let’s talk about this with Calumon.”  
  
The two nodded before heading into the corner of the electronics department. Davis looked around. No cameras. Good. He didn’t want anyone stopping them from going to the Digital World or investigating them. He pointed his Digivice at the computer and was soon sucked in.  
  
“Dai! Marcus!” Calumon yelled worriedly as he flew around.  
  
“Hey Calumon… Woah!” Veemon greeted but soon had to duck from the flying Calumon. “What’s gotten into you?”  
  
“His been like this ever since he sensed a person in here. He even knocked over my rice…” Agumon whined as he hid behind a rock.  
  
“Huh? Why?” Davis asked.  
  
“I feel like this person is really important. I don’t know why, but they are!” Calumon answered as he kept flying around.  
  
“So do you know who this person is? We can’t really figure out on our side.” Marcus asked.  
  
“Yeah we do.” Veemon answered. “It’s a girl named Jeri.”  
  
“Jeri!?” Calumon stopped and flew in Veemon’s face. “Did you say Jeri?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“Follow me!”  
  
After saying that, Calumon flew off away from the others.  
  
“Calumon wait for us!” Marcus yelled as he took off after the small Digimon.  
  
“Boss wait!” Agumon begged as he followed as well.  
  
“We should go too.” Veemon suggested.  
  
“Yeah. Let’s go.” Davis agreed.  
  
Soon after a while of running they all arrived in front of a broken down hospital.  
  
“So is this where she’s at?” Agumon asked sniffing the air.  
  
“Yes! I’d know exactly where Jeri is no matter what!” Calumon answered.  
  
“Do you know Jeri?”  
  
“Yeah. We were really close friends three years ago before I had to go back home.”  
  
“So what you’re saying is that Jeri is a digidestined.” Veemon asked.  
  
“I don’t know what a digi-something is, but Jeri has something like that thing around Marcus’s neck.”  
  
“So she does know about Digimon.” Davis muttered.  
  
“Well I guess it’s time we go and save her.” Marcus declared.  
  
“Right!” The Digimon agreed.  
  
“You up for this Dai?”  
  
Davis eyes widened.  
  
“Huh? Why are you asking me?”  
  
“Well I’m not saying you have to go, but with you and Veemon here we would be able to do this faster. Plus.” Marcus paused as he looked Davis over. “You seem kinda out of it.”  
Davis shook his head.  
  
“No. I’ll help out too. Plus I wouldn’t hear the end of it from Veemon if I didn’t keep my promise to help.”  
  
“Yeah! Now I can finally start fighting again!” Agumon cheered as he punched the air.  
  
“Let’s do this!” Veemon exclaimed.  
  
Calumon did little twirls in the air and cheered at the good news.  
  


“You ready?” Marcus asked Davis. The boy nodded. “Ok! From now on this is the ultimate team of fighters. But don’t forget Agumon and I are the best.”  
  
Davis smiled as the new team cheered at the announcement when all of a sudden a feeling washed over him.  
  
_“Thou art I… and I am thou…” A deep voice said in his head. “Thou hast established a new bond…”_  
  
_“A new bond?”_ Davis thought, but the voice continued on without a care.  
  
_“It brings thee closer to the truth… Thou shalt be blessed when fusing Digimon with those of the Fool Arcana…”_  
  
“W-what?” Davis thought but the feeling and the voice had already left.  
  
“Oi! Dai! Are you sure you aren’t out of it?” Marcus asked waving a hand in front of Davis’s face.  
  
“H-huh.” Davis stuttered and shook his head. “No I’m fine. Did I miss something?”  
  
“We were just about to head in. I was asking you if you were ready.”  
  
“Yeah I am. Let’s go!”  
  
With that said the five entered the hospital to save the missing Jeri.


	8. Further Into the Hospital

“So what did the e-mail say this time?” Agumon asked. The group had just begun walking around the first floor of the hospital and seen no sign of trouble yet.

  
“It was a really weird video and Jeri was in it saying this really weird stuff that made no sense.” Veemon answered.

  
“What about it didn’t make sense?” Calumon asked.

  
“She was talking about watching people in the hospital with this overly happy tone and she got all depressed and creepy when she talked about them dying.” Davis answered.

  
“That sounds like something out of a horror movie.” Marcus pondered.

  
“Yeah and it looks like Jeri’s the star in this movie.”

  
Davis shuddered. If this is really like a horror movie and Jeri’s in it, she could be in a lot of danger. While thinking of what could happen Davis spotted a small movement in the corner of his eye.

  
“Looks like we have company.” He announced. Everyone automatically took positions as the dark blobs started closing in. The forms begun to change as soon as they were spotted. They grew into the size of small children and gained a weird hood that had two pointed ends, like that of a jester’s hat. They had evil smiley faces on their stomachs. One of them grew into the familiar Devidramon they all knew and hated.

  
“Impmon?” Calumon called, but the Impmons just began to chuck fire balls at the white creature. “I guess not!”

  
“Looks like its fighting time!” Marcus called excitedly.

  
“Yeah!” Agumon cheered.

  
“Wait can Agumon digivolve?” Davis asked and Marcus just smirked.

  
“Just watch.”

  
Marcus launched forward and swung a punch on one of the Impmon. The creature was sent flying into several others which soon got up to continue the fight. However Marcus’s fist was now glowing orange.

  
“I’m ready boss!” Agumon yelled as he flew in.

  
“Right! DigiSoul charge!” Marcus yelled as he placed his palm at the top of the digivice. It beeped once before it hit Agumon with and orange glow.

  
Agumon grew much larger. A brown horned helmet covered the top of his head, except for the eyes. He became much more muscular and his yellow scales turned orange. He gained two spikes on his shoulders, one for each shoulder. His tail grew larger as well. He had blue stripes on both his legs, back, tail and arms. Somehow though, the red armbands still were wrapped around the now large dinosaurs claws.

  
“GeoGreymon!” The now digivolved GeoGreymon roared.

  
“Wow.” Davis and Veemon gasped. This Greymon was a lot more muscular compared to the one they knew.

  
“Flame Burst!” GeoGreymon roared again as he launched a fire stream straight ahead. The Impmon’s tried to dodge, but only a few were able to escape the powerful flame as the rest were caught and were dissipated.

  
“Aw. Good to see this guy again. Too bad it looks like we can’t go any further than this.” Marcus muttered then turned to Davis. “Ready to jump in?”

  
“Right.” Davis nodded. He turned to Veemon who nodded in return. “Ok! Digiarmor energize!

  
Veemon was caught in a familiar orange glow and soon became Flamedramon once again.

  
“Let’s go!” Flamedramon exclaimed as he hopped onto GeoGreymon’s head.

  
The two together were sending the Impmon packing from the sheer combined fire heat alone. The Devidramon roared as it came flying at them. The two Digimon just smirked as Flamedramon went in and tackled the dark dragon into the wall. Before it had time to react GeoGreymon had already head-butted the dragon again.

  
“Fire Rocket!” Flamedramon called as his whole body turned into flames and dived toward his target.

  
“Flame Burst!” GeoGreymon exclaimed as he let out another powerful flame.

  
The Devidramon couldn’t take both fire attacks at once and soon, like the Impmon, dissipated into the air.

  
“Yes!” Marcus cheered. The Digimon before them transformed back into their rookie forms before running back to the others.

  
“That was great!” Davis exclaimed as he high fived Veemon. “I’ve never seen such great teamwork before!”

  
“If you think it’s that great, you should join DATS. We do stuff like this all the time!” Agumon bragged.

  
“We may take you up on that offer.” Veemon agreed before turning to Davis. “Right?”

  
Davis smirked, “I don’t know. I think Marcus and Agumon can handle themselves.”

  
“Well we are the ultimate team.” Marcus agreed as he and Agumon soaked up the praise. “But having you around could make work a lot funnier. DATS is usually filled with some stuck-up people let me tell you.”

  
“Um guys.” Calumon interrupted the celebration. “What about Jeri?”

  
“Right. First we save Jeri, and then we can talk about you joining the DATS team.”

  
Davis looked at Marcs shocked. Was he really serious about letting him join? I mean, Agumon and Veemon basically obliterated those guys, but he didn’t think he would accept it after just one fight. He had to make sure.

  
“Wait. You were serious?”

  
“Huh? Of course Boss and I are serious about this.” Agumon answered confused. “Why would we joke about that?”

  
“Well we’ll have to do some paperwork, which will be a pain in the butt, but you could definitely join. I mean they let Yoshi join soo…” Marcus smiled and patted Davis on the back. “I think your fine. Stop thinking you won’t, be a man and think you will!”

  
Davis just smiled up at Marcus. He still had the dream haunting his mind, but with the way Marcus was smiling at him. Like a genuine smile, one that isn’t being faked or forced or trying to mock him, but a smile that is trying to reassure him and be happy with him. It really touched him and made the dark dream fade, even if it was by just a bit.

  
That’s when the feeling from before came rushing back.

  
_“I am thou… and thou art I….”_ The voice from before spoke. _“Thou hast established a new bond…”_

  
_“This again?”_ Davis thought. _“And what bond now?_ ”

  
_“It brings thee closer to the truth… Thou shalt be blessed when Digimon with those of the Emperor Arcana.”_

  
Then the voice was gone. Davis blinked. He looked to see everyone looking worriedly at him.

  
“You ok there?” Agumon asked.

  
“Oh yeah. Just…” Davis paused. “I’d think I’d rather talk about it once we get out of here.”

  
“Well if you say so. But I better hear about it ok?”

  
“Yeah yeah.”

  
“Guys! Jeri!” Calumon whined and the others nodded as they rushed to look for Jeri. They soon found the stairs and began to run up them.

  
“So.” Veemon began smiling up at Davis. “I thought you didn’t want to talk and make friends.”

  
“Hmmm.” Davis hummed. “Well I don’t know about making too many friends while I’m here, but maybe we can trust Marcus and Agumon we can trust.”  
“Didn’t you say just yesterday you didn’t want to trust Digidestined?”

  
“Yeah I did, but I can change my mind you know!” Davis snapped playfully.

  
“I’m just glad that you did.” Veemon muttered and Davis patted his head.

  
“Sheesh you worry too much sometimes. But I guess I would be worried over you too if you didn’t want to hang out with Digimon anymore.” Davis comforted.

  
“But can you still really trust others?” A part of Davis told him. Davis shook it off. He may not be able to trust everyone, but Veemon was someone he could trust and maybe Marcus and Agumon as well. He would just have to watch and see what happens from here.

  
“Great more of them!” Marcus yelled as more Impmon appeared as soon as they reached the next floor.

  
“Let’s go Boss!” Agumon roared as he leapt forward to fight the Impmon.

  
Davis nodded and Veemon came rushing in after the yellow dinosaur. The two were handling it rather well, but it still looked like they were having a bit of trouble. Davis was about to digivolve Veemon stopped him.

  
“Ever fought a Digimon before.” Marcus smirked.

  
“Huh?” Davis gasped. “But wouldn’t digivolving Veemon be easier?”

  
“Come on! Be a man and do it yourself!” Marcus shouted before pointing to Agumon and Veemon. “If we want to be the ultimate team we need to fight alongside them, not just sit on the sidelines and cheer them on! You would protect Veemon from getting stabbed, so why not help him to make sure you don’t need to do that last second!”

  
Davis eyes widened at that. He looked from his digivice to Veemon who was risking his life to protect him. He then sent his gaze back to Marcus whose gaze was itching for a fight.

  
“Ok.” Davis agreed.

  
“Great! Just remember to give it all you got!”

  
With that said, Marcus swung around and sent a punch to one of the Impmon. Davis swallowed before he rushed in a punched an Impmon. It didn’t do much though as it just turned around and shot a fireball at Davis. Davis tripped trying to dodge it. The Impmon saw this as its chance and lunged toward Davis. Davis spun onto his back quickly and sent a kick right into the Impmon’s face. It was much more effective and it sent the Impmon flying.

  
“Ok. I’m going to remember kicking is the best way to survive.” Davis mumbled before heading back into the fight.

  
Soon the all the Impmon were dissipated or had fled by the time the finished.

  
“OK. That was a rush.” Davis huffed as he fell back to sit down.

  
“Not bad for you doing it for the first time.” Marcus spoke amused.

  
“Dai! Be more careful next time if you’re going to keep doing that!” Veemon lectured. Davis just smiled at him.

  
“So do all DATS agents do that?” Davis asked as everyone got back up and began the search for Jeri again.

  
“No. Just Boss.” Agumon answered and Davis glared at the boy in question.

  
“Then why did you make me kick Impmon to death?”

  
Marcus just shrugged his shoulders, “Don’t know. Maybe thought you’d like to.”

  
Davis glared harder which Marcus just smiled innocently at.

  
“Actually Dai, I think its kinda better this way.” Calumon finally spoke as he messed with something in his hands. They looked like cards but Davis decided to dismiss them.  
“Huh? What makes you think that?” Veemon asked.

  
“While it’s hard to say. But I feel like Veemon and Agumon are more ready to play after fighting alongside you then when they had to get bigger and fight off all the evil Impmon and Devidramon.”

  
“Wait so you’re saying that even though we had to fight harder without digivolving, it took less energy than when we had to digivolve?” Agumon asked.

  
“Oh I get.” Davis mumbled. “Digivolving requires using a ton of energy to do. So even though we become stronger we still use a ton of energy.”

  
“Yeah!” Calumon exclaimed.

  
“Man I wouldn’t have gotten that.” Marcus muttered as he scratched the back of his head. “So we just fight with them all the time now.”

  
“No I don’t think so.” Davis argued. “Though digivolving takes a lot of energy it is still necessary in some situations. Like we had to have Veemon digivolve to Flamedramon to defeat Devidramon. If we were to fight something like that without digivolving we would put ourselves in danger and we would more likely than not waste more energy trying to defeat it.”

  
Everyone gawked and Davis looked at each of them.

  
“What?”

  
“You came up with all of that on the spot?” Marcus gasped. “How do you do that?”

  
“I just figured. It was simple.”

  
“You never made said something like that before.” Veemon gawked.

  
Davis widened his eyes. He forgot to tell Veemon that he had been studying in his free time after the lizard left. At first he had Ken force him into it, which he has to thank the blue haired boy for, but after a while he had decided to study by himself to prove he wasn’t just an idiot to Yolie. Of course he wasn’t good at riddles, but he did learn to figure out problems that have some basis.

  
“I just started studying more.” Davis explained.

  
“That’s some study method you have.” Agumon sighed. “Maybe he can help you out Boss.”

  
“You saying I’m an idiot!” Marcus yelled as he punched Agumon on the head.

  
“Boss that hurt!” Agumon whined as he rubbed his head.

  
After trying to protect Agumon from the enraged Marcus, the others had found the stairs again and soon several others. They came into a few skirmishes, with switching between the need of Flamedramon and GeoGreymon, and soon found themselves on the seventh floor.

  
“Guys! I can sense Jeri on the floor above us.” Calumon cheered.

  
“Sweet. We’ll get the girl out in no time!” Marcus said, punching his fist into his palm.

  
“Um. Guys doesn’t this floor seems kinda suspicious.” Veemon whispered.

  
This floor was very different from the others. It wasn’t like the hospital hallways as before. The stained blood from the hallways now looked fresh. Docters’ coats were hanging from the wall and stretchers were fallen over all over the room. The stairs were just straight ahead.

  
“And I thought the hallways from before were scary.” Calumon whimpered as he went and hid behind Marcus.

  
Agumon sniffed the air and Veemon grew tense.

  
“What’s wrong?” Davis asked and he was looking around. “It’s a Digimon isn’t it?”

  
“Yeah. And it’s a big one.” Agumon growled.

  
Before the others could ask, a giant shadow blob hit the floor with a thud. Everyone took a step back as the blob began to take shape. It grew to a large blood red demon that towered over them all. It was larger than GeoGreymon and had large red bat wings on its back. It had tattoos all over its body and held a black pitchfork. It also had a red devil swinging behind it.

  
“B-Boogeymon!” Calumon whined.

  
“Wait the boogeyman actually exists in the Digital World?” Davis asked.

  
“Guys we need to be careful. His stronger than the others Digimon we faced on lower floors.” Veemon warned.

  
“Then let’s do this!” Marcus exclaimed as he rushed forward before the Digimon could notice, jumped, and punched it in the chest. The glow returned to Marcus’s fist yet again. Davis and Veemon turned to each other and nodded.

  
“”Digisoul Charge/Digiarmor energize!”” The two boys shouted and their partners began to change into GeoGreymon and Flamedramon.

  
Boogeymon had recovered from the punch Marcus dealt and, upon seeing the new fighters, flew up into the air. Flamedramon tried to jump up after him but Boogeymon had gotten to high into the air to hit. GeoGreymon tried to launch a Flame Burst at the flying being, but the devil Digimon evaded the attack.

  
“Try jumping off my head!” GeoGreymon growled to Flamedramon. The latter nodded and climbed up the dinosaur’s body before jumping off the head.

  
He was able to reach the same height of Boogeymon but he couldn’t hit the creature as it easily dodged the attack. The dark Digimon used it pitchfork to slap the armored Digimon back down to the ground.

  
“Flamedramon!” Davis screamed in horror as he quickly ran toward his partner. Boogeymon saw this as his chance to kill the lizard, but luckily GeoGreymon was able to push the Digimon back with his flames.

  
“Is he ok?” Marcus asked as Davis knelt before the armor Digimon.

  
“Flamedramon?” Davis whispered quietly. _"No please don’t be hurt."_

  
The said Digimon opened his eyes and stood up.

  
“I’m fine Daisuke. Don’t worry.”

  
“Thank goodness.” Davis sighed in relief as he stood up. “This isn’t working. We can’t fight him like this.”

  
“Yeah unless I digivolve into Ex-Veemon we won’t stand a chance. Daisuke is it possible for me to?”

  
Davis looked at his digivice. He pressed a few random buttons and soon a screen showing boxes saying unknown showed up. He scrolled through each one and found Flamedramon among them. He looked through it some more before he looped back to Flamedramon.

  
“No I don’t think so.” Davis answered sadly. He sent his gaze back to Marcus and GeoGreymon who were trying their best to hit the Digimon but failing.

  
“Then I believe retreating is for the best.”

  
Davis swallowed and shook his head. He hated retreating, especially since they were so close to saving Jeri.

  
“But…” Davis muttered.

  
A roar was heard as Boogeymon finally swept in and hit GeoGreymon on the back. Everyone stood there in shock as the large dinosaur fell to the ground.

  
“GeoGreymon!” Marcus rushed to try to save his partner but was swept away by Boogeymon’s tail.

  
“Shoot!” Davis shouted as he rushed forward with Flamedramon.

  
Boogeymon smirked as he continually strikes the dinosaur Digimon before Flamedramon leapt and tackled it away.

  
“Agumon!” Davis shouted as he grabbed the now de-digivolved creature and rolled out of the way of the fight.

  
“More fried eggs please.” Agumon muttered. Davis sighed in relief to see that he was ok.

  
“Agumon!” Marcus cried as he knelt in front of Davis. Davis handed over the heavy Digimon over to Marcus. “You ok.”

  
“I’m ok Boss.”

  
Davis looked back up just in time to see Flamedramon had been hit back as well by the massive Boogeymon right into him. Luckily for Davis, Flamedramon had reverted back to Veemon in time for Davis just to catch him.

  
“Sorry Daisuke.” Veemon mumbled weakly.

  
“No you were fine.” Davis reassured before looking back at the triumphant looking Boogeymon slowly making its way toward the defeated group. “But we are in trouble.”  
However as Boogeymon reached them Calumon got in between the large Digimon and them.

  
“Calumon! Don’t be an idiot and get out of here!” Marcus shouted.

  
Calumon just glared at Boogeymon in response. The large shadow Digimon seemed to laugh upon seeing the little white creature staring up at him defiantly. He was about to swat Calumon away when.

  
“Path of Safe Return!” Calumon called as a white light appeared and engulfed Calumon and his friends in it.

  
“W-what is this?” Davis asked as he shielded his eyes. When he uncovered them they were back in front of the entrance of the hospital.

  
“What happened?” Agumon asked as he stood up weakly.

  
“I just brought us back out of the scary place and away from the bad Digimon.” Calumon answered.

  
“You can do that?” Everyone asked and Calumon just nodded. His head.

  
Everyone began to ask Calumon more questions on how he can do that or what else he can do, however Davis just turned back. He failed to save Jeri.

  
_“You always fail!”_

  
A memory from before came to him and he clenched his jaw.

  
_“Your tests! As a leader!”_

  
“Stop.” Davis choked. This caused a reaction from Calumon who flew in front of him.

  
“Hey you alright?” The small Digimon asked worriedly. Davis took a deep breath. He knew he hadn’t cried or talked too loudly so he couldn’t have caused too much attention.  
“Yeah. I’m fine, I’m fine.”

  
“Hey you sure.” Agumon asked now looking Davis over.

  
“Hey. Let’s call it a day right now.” Marcus spoke up. The others around him nodded in agreement.

  
“No! What about Jeri?” Davis protested. The fear of letting someone die because he failed was starting to get to him.

 

“Dai. It’s fine. Remember what the e-mail said?” Veemon asked and Davis shook his head. “It said we had ten days to save her. After today we still have nine.”

  
“B-but…”

  
“No buts!” Marcus spoke firmly making Davis quiet down. “I want to save this girl too, and I want to beat this Boogeymon, but until we can get stronger then we can’t do anything about it. We’ll rest today and continue tomorrow ok?”

  
“Ok.”

  
“Good now let’s head back for now then ok?”

  
Davis nodded his head as he followed the others back to the place they entered from. He still felt uneasy about leaving Jeri all alone like that, but he knew he had no choice.

  
“Ok. We’ll try again tomorrow ok?” Marcus reassured and Davis just nodded numbly. The memory that had resurfaced from before was starting to fade but its effect still lingered as the boy walked to the T.V.

  
“Davis wait!” Calumon called as he flew in front of the boy.

  
“What is it?” Davis asked. Calumon handed Davis what he saw him holding earlier. “What are these?”

  
“Cards!”

  
Davis looked the cards over. He was shocked to see Digimon on the cards. It listed their names and stats on them. What he also noticed was a weird category they fell under. He scanned through a few, some saying Chariot or Moon, but what caught his attention was the ones that said Fool and Emperor or others that listed only skills.  
“I remember friends of mine used to use cards like these all the time!” Calumon explained happily. “Maybe you would like to use them.”

  
“Ok. Thanks Calumon.” Davis thanked before pointing his digivice at the T.V.

  
“Ok. What happened back there?” DemiVeemon asked once they returned home. Davis groaned in response as he fell lazily onto his bed. It was his first time fighting Digimon for himself and he felt way too tired to explain anything. He had no idea how DemiVeemon did it every day.

  
“Can’t this wait till tomorrow?” Davis answered as he turned over. He really didn’t want to talk about it.

  
“No. You’ve been off telling me for the entire time I’ve been back. I know you don’t like talking about T.K, but you don’t like it when I talk about the others coming here. So you need to tell me why!”

  
Davis shot up and DemiVeemon jumped back in shock. Davis didn’t even like to think about, so he really didn’t want to talk about it!

  
“Look! I rather not talk about it because I messed up, everyone hates me because of it and they betrayed me all right! They wouldn’t come if we contacted them, and no matter how much we plead. And even if they did, they wouldn’t let me help because they think I’ll fail or mess something up for them because they don’t have faith in me, and we aren’t even friends! I doubt I was a friend to any of them in the first place!” Davis vented and soon his head was back into the pillow. This was the first time he even talked about it to anyone so he really couldn’t explain it very well.

  
Davis felt tears come to his eyes again as memories from the two years apart from Veemon come back. He fought back the urge to cry into his comfy pillow as he buried his face into it. He wanted to explain it better to DemiVeemon so he could understand, but he felt he would be a sobbing mess before he could even sort out what he wanted to say. Why was he so bad at something as simple as telling him what’s wrong?

  
DemiVeemon looked at his partner in shock. Davis was never really good at explaining his feeling so he was ok with Davis’s vague explanation. He frowned however from what he heard. What does Davis exactly mean about the others betraying him? What did he mess up and how could it make the others hate him for it? Did it have something to do with the missing goggles that he usually proudly wore?

  
DemiVeemon broke from his thinking to look at his partner that was keeping his head in the pillow as if it was the most interesting thing to be in. Yeah Davis had vented to him before but this is the first time he ever saw him so upset. He was about to ask more questions after a while has past, but then Davis raised his head.

  
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to snap.” Davis mumbled. Tears had stained his cheeks and DemiVeemon stopped himself. He knew Davis rarely cried, except during sappy romance movies, so seeing him look so defeated and tired made DemiVeemon angry at whoever did this to his partner.

  
“Theirs’s no need to apologize. I understand why.” DemiVeemon reassured. “How about we sleep this off?”

  
Davis just nodded as DemiVeemon crawled into bed with him. DemiVeemon didn’t know how he was going to figure out what happened while he was gone, but he knew he would find out and be able to his partner in any way he can.


	9. Explanations of Cards

“Dai.” DemiVeemon whispered as he shook said boy.

Davis blinked his eyes open, but then closed them again. He moved his hand around until he found his phone. He pulled it to DemiVeemon.

“What time is it?” He asked tiredly as he turned over.

“7:30.”

Davis moaned. He really didn’t want to go to school. So instead he decided to stay in bed. Plus he really didn’t want to go anyways.

“Shouldn’t you be going to school?” DemiVeemon asked. Davis shrugged his shoulders and turned over.

DemiVeemon sighed. He knew why Davis wasn’t really up to school. Davis had another nightmare that he had been told about when the blue lizard came back. Not to mention what happened last night. He looked the boy over. He was better than he was last. His shoulders were slumped, but more from being tired then from sobs and the rest of his body was stretched out in the usual lazy manner.

They both of them jumped when Davis’s phone played some weird opera sound. Davis turned around and took the phone, which had no caller ID. Davis just sighed as he took the call.

“This is Davis.” The boy yawned.

“Hello Daisuke.” A familiar voice answered.

“Helena? How did you get my number?”

“Yes it’s me and that really doesn’t matter. I thought you would like to know some information.”

“About what?” Davis asked.

“About those cards you received during your fight against the Shadow Digimon.” Helena answered. Davis quirked a brow. What cards? His eyes widened as he jumped up and grabbed the cards he put in his dresser last night.

“You mean the ones with Digimon on them right?”

“Yes. Now take a look at your digivice. It should have a card reader at the side correct?”

Davis took out his digivice and looked it over. Sure enough the card reader was on the right side of it.

“Yeah it does. So what do I do with the cards?” Davis asked.

“Well you can’t use the Digimon cards but the skill cards you have can be used via the card reader.” Helena answered. “Take one and swipe it through the card reader.”

Davis looked through them before deciding that the one that said Baby Flame on it and swiped it through the card reader. The device beeped before it showing Veemon and Flamedramon on the screen. It said choose one. Davis quirked a brow before choosing Veemon. The device beeped again asking if he really wanted to use it on Veemon. Davis rolled his eyes before pressing yes. The device beeped a few more times before saying that the skill was learned.

“Woah!” DemiVeemon exclaimed.

“What happened?” Davis asked worriedly.

“I don’t know. I felt a weird feeling and then all of a sudden I feel like I knew something, but I don’t know what.”

“Helena! What happened?”

“He had learned the skill you swiped through your digivice.” Helena answered calmly. “You can also use the skill cards on Agumon but I must warn you that only Veemon and his digivolutions can use a most skill cards.”

“Wait what does that mean?”

“Only Veemon can use all the skill cards you acquire. Here. Tell me another card you have on you.”

“Um…. Small Heal.” Davis answered after a moment of going through the cards.

“Perfect. You see Veemon can learn that healing spell, but Agumon cannot.”

“But why is that?”

“Each Digimon had their own fighting style. You cannot force Marcus and Agumon, who want to be the ultimate fighters, to use support healing magic. You and Veemon have the ability to use several different styles, thus the ability to use more skill cards.”

“I see.” Davis mumbled thoughtfully. “But why did it ask me to choose between Veemon and Flamedramon?”

“Each stage of a digivolution or different routes can allow only a certain number of moves. Some also may specialize in a skill better than others.”

“Uhh. Ok.” Davis sighed. This was a lot to take in at once. “Well is that all?”

“Yeah that’s about it.” Helena said and right before Davis could hang up, “Wait! One more thing.”

“What? I have to prepare to save Jeri.”

“That’s what I need to talk to you about. I know you are eager to save your friend, but it may not be a bad idea to stop and think before leaping into action.”

“What is there to think about?” Davis asked rolling his eyes.

“At times it may be better to focus on the others around you.”

“Ok. Is that all?”

“No. Come to the local shopping district tonight.”

“Ok. Fine. Be there tonight.” Davis sighed as he finally was able to hang up.

“Who’s Helena?” DemiVeemon asked curiously.

“Some girl that’s supposed to be helping me save the Digital World.”

“What?!” DemiVeemon gasped in shock.

“Honestly I don’t really know myself but I can’t get rid of her, so we have no choice but to accept her help.”

“Well. Since your up, are you heading to school?”

“Yeah, yeah Mom. I’m going.” Davis joked.

“Hey. Have you heard the sports clubs have started accepting members?” A boy asked one of his friends.

“Yeah I have. I don’t know if I want to join soccer or….”

As soon as the boy said that, DemiVeemon elbowed Davis from behind. The boy rolled his eyes and sighed. Well he might as well try out, though he doubted he would be accepted onto the team especially since he was a transfer student.

“Welcome to soccer tryouts!” The coach announced to the boys in front of him. Davis looked at all the boys wearing the same black t-shirt and red shorts for the soccer team. “Now allow me to explain the rules…”

And that was Davis’s time to tune out the coach. He has had to have heard that same speech over a million times for the times he joined soccer teams, or when he went to camp.

“Looks like you heard this a ton of times before too.” A boy whispered over to Davis. Davis turned his head to see a lightly tanned boy talking to him. He had orange hair similar to Taichi’s but shorter and more controlled. His red eyes shined with amusement at the other try-outs listening very intently.

“Yeah. Plenty.” Davis answered.

“Hey you’re that transfer student Davis right?” The boy asked and Davis nodded. “Cool! I’m Koh! It’s nice to meet you!”

“It’s nice to meet you too.”

Koh tilted his head.

“No need to be so polite.”

Davis just shrugged his shoulders. As he turned his attention back to the coach.

“Ok everyone let’s begin with some excises!”

“Yes sir!”

“Holy cow!” “Look at those two go!” “Sheesh! They could be the entire soccer team if they wanted too!”

The students around them watched in awe as Davis and Koh were easily breezing through the excises. They boys were dodging the closely packed dummies with ease and still making goals like it was no problem.

“Looks like you aren’t half bad.” Davis remarked.

“You ain’t bad yourself.” Koh smirked.

“Ok that’s enough the both of you!” The coach yelled and the two stopped. “I think it’s safe to say we’ve found our captains. Now everyone else let’s get back to work on exercises. You two better not get too carried away now.”

“I was hoping to be the sole captain, but I guess if you’re my co-captain, I wouldn’t really mind that much.” Koh smirked after practice finished.

“I guess I don’t mind you that much either.”  Davis agreed as he stood up and swung his backpack behind his shoulder, which of course warranted protests from DemiVeemon.

“Well I look forward to working with you.”

“You too.”

Koh smiled and Davis couldn’t help but smile back. The last time he felt like this was when he was with Ken. Then a familiar yet still strange feeling washed over Davis.

_“Thou art I…. and I am thou…. Thou hast established a new bond… It brings thee closer to the truth…. Thou shalt be blessed when fusing Digimon with those of the Sun Arcana….”_

_“What does it mean when fusing?”_ Davis thought.

“Well I’ll see you later Davis!” Koh waved goodbye before rushing on home.

“Looks like someone’s making friends.” DemiVeemon teased. Davis rolled his eyes as he shook his backpack again. “Ow! That hurt!”

“Oh. I’m sorry I thought you said, ‘Please shake the backpack Dai,’ was that not it?” Davis asked innocently. He heard DemiVeemon protest and responded with a laugh.

“Yo!” A voice called and Davis turned to see Marcus clapping on the bleachers. “Didn’t know you could move like that.”

“Well its years of practice.” Davis responded. “Anyways, what are you doing here and how did you know I would be here?”

“I just followed the people in the same uniform as you. Plus I was coming on over to see if you’re ready to rescue Jeri.”

Davis tilted his head and thought for a moment. He, of course, wanted to save Jeri as soon as possible, but he did agree with what Helena said about waiting and thinking on what to do.

“How about we wait for now. Do some training and prepare as well.” Davis finally spoke.

“Well if you say so. I guess some training to face Boogeymon won’t be so bad.” Marcus agreed. “Then what do you want to do to prepare first?”

“I guess just training for now.”

“Sweet! Let’s go now!” Agumon cheered. The others agreed as they all walked off to return to the world.

“God! Now I know how you feel when fighting Digimon every day!” Davis gasped as he walked down the empty shopping district. Training was a lot more brutal then he thought it would be. Well maybe because Marcus and Agumon took it so seriously, or the fact that he couldn’t keep up to well with the others.

“Yeah. Now you know how I feel.” DemiVeemon smirked as he was held in Davis’s arms. “But you didn’t do too badly.”

“I don’t know how Marcus does it though! I mean I know he lived in the Digital World for three years, but come on!”

Davis and DemiVeemon continued to talk about training and what the Shadow Digimon really were. That was soon stopped when a blue door flashed to the right of them.

“Holy…!” Davis jumped back in shock.

“What? What is it?” DemiVeemon asked worriedly looking around.

“Can you not see that?”

“See what?”

“Ah If I could have a moment of your time Daisuke.” Igor spoke through the door.

“I kinda agreed to it in the first place.” Davis answered as he stepped toward the door.

“Daisuke! What are you doing?” DemiVeemon asked worriedly.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

Davis grabbed the door handle and stepped inside.

“Ah. Welcome to the Velvet Room.” Igor greeted as Davis entered.

He looked around the room again and then felt something missing in his arms.

“Where’s DemiVeemon!” Davis asked worriedly searching for his partner.

“Don’t worry. He is sleeping soundly in your digivice.”

“Ok. I’m tired of always coming here! So what do you want to tell me so I can get on with my life.”

“No need to be so rude.” Helena puffed and crossed her arms. “Anyways what we called you over for is to tell you of how the Digimon cards work and how the Social Links work.”

Davis nodded and sat down. Even though he didn’t like being in this way too blue room, he had to put up with it if he wanted to figure out just what was going on.

“OK. Then tell me how they work.”

“Grab the cards you have.”

Davis listened obediently as he pulled out the cards and laid them out on the table before him. He scanned them all over seeing the same cards, but then stopped when he saw a new one.

“These cards here,” Igor stated before Davis could ask about the new card, “Are Digimon that you could temporarily summon at short moments in time.”

“So it means I have more than one partner now?” Davis asked. He really didn’t want any other partner. He was pretty happy with just Veemon.

“No. Unlike our previous guests you can only call upon them temporarily to help you once in a fight. You can use them in multiple fights but you cannot use them more than once. They aren’t as loyal to you as Veemon is.”

“I see.” Davis said in understanding. It made sense, he really didn’t know these Digimon too well, plus they came from that weird part of the Digital World so they couldn’t possibly use them as partners.

“Now to the Social Links.” Helena spoke up.

“You mean those things that suddenly cause a voice in my head that say I made a new bond. And then something like Emperor or Fool arcana?”

“Yes. Those bonds you make allow you to do things you may not be able to do alone.”

 _“Not be able to do alone?”_ Davis thought. It made sense with his new digidestined group but….

“What about Koh, the um… Sun Arcana? He doesn’t have a Digimon does he?” Davis asked.

“See this card?” Igor asked as he pointed to the new card. It had a red chip in the middle and said plug-in. On the top it read “DIGIVOLVE”.

“Wait! Is that…!” Davis asked pulling the card to his face to examine it closely.

“Yes that is exactly what you think it is. You obtain new Digivolutions upon making bonds with people. And as those bonds grow the Digimon you obtain from that arcana will also become stronger.” Helena explained.

Davis frowned, “Doesn’t that make all the bonds I make from here on out just for my own gain and to become more powerful?”

“No. The bonds you form to gain these new abilities can only be genuine on both ends. You cannot fake the relationships to get these powers. Plus… I doubt you would forge a fake bind for just power.”

Davis eyes widened at the now smiling Helena. How could she say that with just barely knowing him? I mean he is a guest, but it shouldn’t be that easy to just trust someone with this kind of power.

During Davis’s (exaggerated) mental breakdown, Helena continued.

“The “DIGIVOLVE” card you have in your hand right now, may just be the card you need to save Jeri.”

Davis looked up with a start.

“You serious?” Davis muttered. Helena nodded.

“Now I think that is all we needed to tell you. You should probably head back now.”

Davis nodded and headed to the exit but he turned back for a minute.

“Thanks.” He mumbled before finally stepped outside.

“What happened?” DemiVeemon suddenly shouted causing Davis to jump.

“I thought you were sleeping!”

“I don’t know. Everything just went black and when now I’m awake again. So what happened?”

Davis sighed, “I’ll tell you as soon as we get back ok?”

“You better!”


	10. Return to the Hospital

“Hey did you see that weird e-mail video?” One of Davis’s soccer club members asked after practice to the rest of the team. Davis had been casually chatting with Koh when the entire team began to talk about the Midnight E-mails (DemiVeemon came up with the name). He was still somewhat tired from the training from the day before and yesterday so he was behind, but nothing he couldn’t handle.

“You mean the one with that first transfer student, Jeri?” Another team member asked.

“Yeah! I saw that! Wasn’t it really weird?”

“Yeah, but that girl was always weird. I here she disappeared and the cops are looking for her.”

“I bet she just ran away or something like that.”

Davis clenched his fists at that. Yeah Jeri had that puppet that creeped him out a bit, but she was still nice (Davis won’t admit it but he really appreciates it at times). Not to mention they don’t know what’s happening to her right now!

_“He can be a real idiot sometimes.” “Why was he made leader again?”_

Davis clenched his jaw. No one deserved to be talked about behind there back.

The conversation became more and more insulting towards Jeri and before Davis could snap at them, someone else did.

“Who do you think you are talking about someone like that?” Koh growled causing all the teammates eyes to widen in response. “Do you even really know her? If not then shut up!”

“Chill out man.” One teammate sneered, “I know she’s hot and I wouldn’t mind dating her, but she’s not here so who cares?”

“I care.” Davis growled angrily. “So shut up about her!”

“And what would you don’t if we don’t?”

“Then I’ll just make you.” 

Davis stepped forward. Davis had trained yesterday against Digimon. Compared to those things, these guys will be a breeze.

The teammate glared his eyes, before giving in and went on to talk about something else. Davis glared once more before grabbing his bag and walking home.

“Wow! Way to bluff like a champ!” Koh cheered as he caught up to Davis. “Way to stick it too ‘em though. I don’t think even I would go that far!”

“How come you didn’t join them Koh?” Davis asked not looking at ginger.

“Huh? Isn’t is simple? Who would talk like that about a nice girl like Jeri? What’s up with you asking me that?”

“Sorry. Just everyone here is kinda hostile.”

Koh smiled, “Hey I’m still riled up about some people here as well. But you want to know what makes me feel better?”

Davis arched a brow at the boy and asked ‘What?” The energetic soccer player gave a smile before grabbing Davis by the hand and dragging him off. The former goggle-head kept asking questions but his co-leader just refused to answer or would counter with his own questions. Davis was thankful that he had left DemiVeemon at home to rest so he wouldn’t hear him failing to get the boy to talk.

“Ta-da!” Koh shouted as he stopped in front of a small diner like place with his arms spread wide to empathize the greatness of the place.

Davis looked at the establishment in closer detail. The place looked like an old style tavern and seemed to match the rest of the town’s shops, however when he looked at it a bit more he could tell it had more of a city feel then the country one you would get from the rest of the quite Inaba.

“Wait, this is a tavern right? Doesn’t it only sell beer?” Davis asked.

“No! Well yeah, but not to students like us. They still serve food, which I may add is fantastic!” Koh smiled as he once again grabbed Davis by the hand and pulled him inside the store.

“Welcome.” A middle aged man said glumly as the two boys entered a store.

Davis arched a brow before he was pulled to one of the two seat tables and firmly told to seat down by the excited red head. Davis grumbled a protest before sitting down and looking through the menu left on the table.

“What would you like?” A woman asked just as gloomily as the man who welcomed them in. She brightened up upon seeing Koh. “Ah! Hi Koh. The usual?”

“Yes ma’am! What do you want Davis?”

“Uh… Just a simple bowl of ramen please.” Davis answered as he nodded at the woman.

She smiled took down the order before turning around and walking away.

“You come here often?” Davis asked the boy before him.

Koh smirked, “Why Davis, are you hitting on me? I’m really flattered.”

“Yeah right.” Davis replied. Koh gave a feign look of hurt which Davis just rolled his eyes at. “Please I know you’re not hurt by that.”

“Hey I could be! I mean I would be hurt if I was really rejected by a guy as good looking as you!”

Davis eyes widen in surprise at the comment and he felt a blush creep up to his face. Koh eyes sparkled in amusement.

“Oooooo! Did I just find the never reacting Davis’s weak spot?” Koh smirked. “Well I’m glad I can make the mysterious new guy blush from my compliments. I’m quite flattered again.”

“S-shut up!” Davis stuttered.

Before Koh could continue to embarrass the flustered Davis. The woman from before came with their meals. Davis thanked her quickly before digging into his food. Koh pouted as he thanked her as well before digging in himself.

“That was great!” Davis cheered as the two soccer players finished their food.

“Sure was.” Koh smiled. “No worries. I’ll treat you good looking.”

Davis blushed again.

“Will you stop that? What kind of friend flirts with another friend?”

 _“Wait friend?”_ Davis thought. When did he start seeing Koh as a friend?

“The kind that like to see the other flustered.” Koh laughed and even though Davis was annoyed by him, he still couldn’t help but join in on the laugh. It has been a long time since he could laugh like this with someone other than Veemon and it felt really good. Maybe that’s why he was starting to see Koh as; a friend.

He felt something grow a little inside him and he heard his digivice beep. But he ignored it for now as the two continued their conversation.

“I’m just worried about her.” The man whispered. Davis tuned a bit into his conversation.

“I’m worried about Jeri too honey, but I’m sure she’ll come back. She did before, she will again.”  The woman spoke.

“Are they talking about Jeri?” Davis whispered.

“Yeah. Those are Jeri’s parents.” Koh answered.

“They seem really worried about her.”

“To be honest, I’m worried about her too. She’s been gone for three days now and still no sign of her. If this keeps up the rumors about her will continue.”

Davis nodded somberly and felt slight guilt in his stomach. He had accused Jeri of possibly being the murderer and now he was seeing how nice she was and how many people worry about her. Not to mention rumors about her were starting.

The boys paid for their meals before taking their separate ways. As soon as he saw Koh was out of sight, he rushed toward his home.

“Hi Akiko!” Davis greeted as he rushed into his room, grabbed DemiVeemon in a flash. “Bye Akiko!”

“B-bye.” Akiko stumbled watching the red blur leave the house.

“Dai! Where are we going?” DemiVeemon asked as the boy ran hurriedly through the streets.

“We’re heading over to the Digital World.”

“What? Why? I thought we weren’t going to train today.”

“We aren’t training. We’re going to save Jeri!”

Davis rushed inside the store, went straight in to the electronics department and pointed his digivice at the computer.

“Marcus!” Davis shouted as he finally appeared in the Digital World. He was a bit out of breath but that didn’t matter right now.

“What?” Said boy asked. His mouth was full from the cup of instant ramen he was eating but he quickly swallowed it. “Did something bad happen?”

“No. I just think now is the perfect time to save Jeri!”

“Does this mean we can finally fight Boogeymon?” Agumon asked excitedly.

“I’m all in for saving Jeri!” Calumon cheered.

“Dai. I know you want to save her, but you have to think carefully if now is a good time.” Veemon warned.

“I think we’re good. I’ve been itching for a fight all week!” Marcus smirked.

“Yeah let’s go save her right now!” Davis cheered.

“If you say so.” Veemon muttered before cheering with the others.

“Wait. Do we have to climb all those floors all over again?” Davis whined a bit. He was all for saving Jeri at this point but stairs seriously annoyed him right now.

“No worries! I can take us straight to the highest floor right before Boogeymon!” Calumon stated proudly puffing out his chest.

“What else can you do?” Veemon asked.

“Don’t know. Anyways, here we go!” Calumon cheered as a light surrounded them. Soon the group found themselves right in front of stairs going upward.

“Ok. Let’s see if Boogeymon is still there.” Davis whispered as the group silently went up the stairs and peered into the room. Boogeymon still stood on guard in front of the stairs glaring right were the boys were hiding. “Ok Marcus, you’re up first.”

“Gladly.” Marcus smirked before running into the room. Boogeymon spotted him, but before he could react Marcus punched the large devil in the gut. “Let’s do this!”

Davis hearing the cue pulled out his Digivice and nodded at the two battle ready Digimon.

“Digiarmor energize/Digisoul Charge!”

Once digivolved, Flamedramon and GeoGreymon started charging toward Boogeymon. The Digimon was more prepared this time and flew high into the sky. GeoGreymon let out a sea of fire at Boogeymon. He hit him, but only barely as the red devil Digimon started to fly higher. Flamedramon tried to hop against the walls, but with the fresh blood on it the armored Digimon had a hard time leaping up to high. The Digimon tried the tactic they did last time to get Flamedramon into the air, but it had the same result of Flamedramon being thrown into the ground.

“Flamedramon!” Davis yelled.

“No worries, this time it didn’t hurt that much.” Flamedramon reassured as he leapt back into the battle.

“Darn it! How come were still at a disadvantage?” Marcus growled frustrated. Davis observed the battle closely. He soon realized what the problem.

“He has too much of a flight advantage. We can’t reach him with our attacks and no matter how many times we fly Flamedramon in the air, he won’t stand a chance since he doesn’t have much aerial movement compared to Boogeymon.” Davis clenched his fist. If only Veemon could Digivolve X-Veemon then they could stand a chance.

His eyes widened at the realization as he pulled out the cards he got from Calumon. He went through them and found the two card that read digivolve on them.

“Dai! You have those?” Calumon asked as he flew over and looked at Davis’s cards.

“Do you know how they work?” Davis asked.

“Yeah just take one and….” Calumon pointed at the card reader on Davis’s digivice, “… slide it through there.”

“Wait what?” Marcus asked as Davis picked the card with the Sun on the back.

 _“This must be the card Koh’s bond gave me…”_ Davis though as he placed the card on the slider and finally slide it through.

“Woah!”Flamedramon said as he de-digivolved back to Veemon. Davis’s digivice beeped and soon a white light shot at Veemon. The lizard grew taller and more muscular.  His tail grew longer and white wings grew off his back, a silver horn grew at the edge of his nose. A gray X was on the middle of his stomach.

“ExVeemon!” The newly digivolved Digimon yelled.

“Wait! Veemon has another Digivolution?” Marcus asked.

“Yes!” Davis exclaimed. Now they stood a chance. “ExVeemon!”

“I thought I couldn’t become ExVeemon anymore.” ExVeemon muttered before shaking his head. “Doesn’t matter. Time to fight back!”

“Hold on. Still trying to catch up.” GeoGreymon sighed confused.

Boogeymon was temporarily stunned before he shaking it off and began to attack the others. ExVeemon was ready this time as he jumped and flew up to catch the Shadow Digimon off guard. Boogeymon tried to out maneuver him in the sky, but ExVeemon’s greater speed and smaller size allowed him to dodge the Digimon’s attacks in the air until he got behind the red Digimon and smacked him into the ground.

Boogeymon recovered quickly, but was soon met with a head-butt from GeoGreymon. Boogeymon tried to fly in the air again to dodge the powerful Digimon’s attack, but was cut short from ExVeemon knocking him back down.

“Sweet! With ExVeemon this we’re going to take this guy down in no time!” Marcus cheered before turning to Davis. “Hey, how come Veemon can become both ExVeemon and Flamedramon?”

“Veemon’s always able to do that, but that’s because with Flamedramon I have to use the Digiegg of Courage to get him into that form so it’s different from regular digivolution. ExVeemon is like GeoGreymon as it’s a natural digivolution.” Davis explained. He looked between Calumon and Marcus who both had confused looks on their faced. Davis sighed, “I use an item to get Veemon to Flamedramon, while Veemon to ExVeemon is like Agumon to GeoGreymon.”

“Oh. Now I get.” Marcus nodded.

“I don’t.” Calumon sighed as he flew around dizzily.

“Let’s finish him!” ExVeemon yelled. GeoGreymon nodded.

“Mega Burst!” GeoGreymon yelled shooting out a powerful torrent of flames from his mouth.

“V-Laser!” ExVeemon shouted as he fired an X laser from the symbol on his chest.

Boogeymon let out a strangled noise as the fire consumed him and soon dissipated into the air.

“We did it!” Agumon cheered as he de-digivolved back.

“Of course we did, were the ultimate team!” Marcus joined as he high fived his partner.

“Good job Veemon!” Davis congratulated as he swooped his partner up in a hug. Veemon laughed as Davis swung for a bit more before putting the blue lizard back down.

“Thanks Dai, but how did I become ExVeemon anyways? I thought I could only become Flamedramon.” Veemon asked.

“It’s because of the card I got. I don’t know how I got it, but it’s thanks to that that you were able to digivolve.”

“A card?” Agumon asked. “How could a card make you digivolve?”

“It could be because it has a special coding in it that the Digivice reacted, found the code for ExVeemon and sent to you so you could digivolve.”

“That make no sense!” Marcus shouted.

“Hey! I’m trying my best here. Plus it’s like near impossible to explain the Digital World and Digimon anyways!” Davis defended.

“Yeah I guess you’re right.” Marcus sighed. “Just how does a card do all that anyways?”

 _“Maybe if Izzy or Ken were here they could find an explanation, they are better at this then I am.”_ Davis thought. _“But I can’t contact Ken and I doubt Izzy would just come over on, what he would assume, a whim of mine figure out how these cards that can unlock lost Digivolution even do. He may be interested if it was true, but he would likely not believe me.”_

“Hey guys!” Calumon interrupted. “What about Jeri? You guys keep forgetting!”

“Right! Sorry about that.” Veemon laughed. “You guys ready?”

“Yeah!” “Let’s do this!” Agumon and Marcus agreed as they followed Calumon and Veemon up the stairs.

Davis shook his head and followed the others.. Now is not the time to think about his old friends. He had to save Jeri and figure this all out. Even if he had to do it by himself.

“Hey Dai! You ok?” Agumon asked as he slowed down to Davis’s pace. “You keep falling behind.”

“Huh? Oh I’m fine.” Davis answered as the others slowed down to match Davis’s pace.

“You sure. Because if you aren’t fine we could always come back tomorrow. We still have time.” Veemon pressed.

“I told you I’m fine Veemon.”

“Well if you’re sure. But if you trip once, I’m teleporting us all back!” Calumon warned as he flew and lay on top of Davis’s head.

“You guys shouldn’t worry too much.”

“Huh? Of course we’re gonna worry. You’re our friend Davis. If you’re unwell then we have to put that first.” Marcus smiled as he pat Davis on the back.

_“By myself? No. I don’t think it’s by myself. Maybe. Maybe I’m not alone. But… I don’t know why I still feel…. Feel afraid.”_


	11. In the Lion's Den

“Stop please stop!” A girl’s voice screamed.

“Jeri!” Calumon yelled as he flew quickly up the stairs. They others looked at each other and nodded in agreement before following the voice.

“Jeri!” Davis yelled when they entered the room.

It was a dark hospital room. Bloody handprints lay across the wall and the floor in a random matter. Doctor’s tools lay broken and gnarled on the floor. The only light area was where it flickered on and off. A coffin lay on top of a stretcher and it was the only non-bloody thing in the entire room. It had flowers all around it with half of them being alive and beautiful and the other half dead and wilted. And in that light sat Jeri. Wait. No….

“Two Jeris?” Calumon asked confused.

“Does she have a twin sister?” Agumon asked.

“No.”

Davis looked between the two Jeris. One of them was bent on the ground holding her head and sobbing. She wore the school uniform but was missing the lion pin Davis usually saw on her. The other was sitting on the coffin with a satisfied smirk that sent shivers down Davis’s spine. She wore the doctor’s coat and stethoscope from the video and had bright yellow eyes. Davis did a double take when he saw malice, hatred and sadness swirling around in them. She was tossing the lion pin Jeri wore in her hand like a ball.

“I think the one on the coffin is a fake.” Davis spoke.

“Yeah. She seems a lot scarier than the real Jeri.” Calumon agreed.

“Then is that like a Shadow Human or something?” Agumon asked.

“It’s possible. But if theirs one of Jeri then what about Dai and Marcus?” Veemon questioned.

“Hey look! We have special guests!” Shadow Jeri shouted in a fake happy voice. “Go on look!”

Jeri turned around with fear in her eyes to see Davis and co. standing behind her.

“No! Go away!” Jeri cried as she scooted back.

“Hey! We came to save you and this is what answer with?” Marcus asked angrily.

“I don’t care. Just go away!”

“Aw… Don’t want them to get hurt is it?” Shadow Jeri spoke. She had a mocking smirk on her face. “But that’s to be expected. Everyone that gets close to me gets hurt.”

“N-no. That’s…” Jeri sobbed.

“Oh but it is. And you know what’s worse? It’s all my fault. It’s because I’m a useless girl who couldn’t save her mother when she was on her death bed and then went off and treated my step-mother like she was nothing. I’m such a horrible and heartless person.”

“What the heck?” Veemon gaped. Just what was Shadow Jeri saying?

“No! That’s not true!” Jeri defended but the one sharing her face just continued on.

“Then my own partner died because I was too helpless and worthless. I’m not strong. I’m not smart. I wasn’t special like the others! So I just sat on my butt and let my partner die! I didn’t even try to save him. I was too scared. And then what’s even worse, I blocked everyone out and let the D-Reaper capture me and let it use my sadness against my friends. And because my friends were coming to save _me_ they nearly got killed because of my own stupid feelings and just being the helpless damsel in distress yet again! I mean look! More heroes coming to save me from my own emotions yet again!”

 _“Her partner died? Like he got deleted?”_ Davis thought. He felt his entire stomach drop at even the thought of that happening to Veemon. He turned to Marcus who seemed to have the same look as he did, but it held more of understanding then his did.

“N-no. These….” Jeri stumbled herself up.

“Aren’t your emotions. Too bad, because guess what? They are! I think I’m a worthless little girl who can’t do anything right! I feel like the odd man out among my friends because of what I did! I distanced myself from them! I rejected their comforting feeling like they didn’t understand. I let both my mother and partner die because I couldn’t save them myself. I’m worthless, helpless, weak, frail, overly sensitive and utterly useless. If it wasn’t for me Leomon wouldn’t have to have died and everyone’s partners wouldn’t have to return to the Digital world! And I still hate the Digimon who killed him even though he saved my life!” Shadow Jeri shouted. She looked so happy saying all those things except for the tears that stained her cheeks. “And you wanna know why I know how you feel? How I know all this stuff about you?”

“Leave Jeri alone!” Calumon yelled and he shot forward to the fake Jeri.

“Calumon?” Jeri asked as Calumon flew past her and towards Shadow Jeri. Shadow Jeri just did that same creepy smile and smacked Calumon against the wall. Marcus easily sprinted over and picked up the small Digimon. “Calumon!!!”

“Because. I. Am. You.” Shadow Jeri said every signal word in a low voice with nothing but anger laced in it.

Jeri glared at the other her with nothing but hate and malice.

“There is no way you are me!” Jeri shouted.

“Hahaha. **HAHAHAHAHAHAH!”** Shadow Jeri laughed and laughed after that. The shadows from lower floors suddenly rushed up the stairs and landed on top of the fake girl.

“What’s happening?” Agumon asked as more and more shadows went to the fake Jeri. They seemed to be fusing with her.

“W-what….?” Jeri stuttered before falling on to the floor unconscious.

“Shoot!” Marcus yelled. He gave Calumon to Davis before rushing, picking up the unconscious girl and running right back. “What the heck is happening?”

“The Shadow Digimon are fusing with Shadow Jeri….” Calumon whisper from Davis’s arms.

“Wait doesn’t that mean that Shadow Jeri is going to become a Digimon?” Davis asked. Calumon nodded his head weakly. Everyone turned their heads to the large shadow blob back at the coffin. The last thing to be seen before it too disappeared inside the blob was the golden lion pin.

 **“YES. THIS FEELS SO MUCH BETTER NOW THAT I AM MY OWN BEING.”** Shadow Jeri yelled happily as it took its form. It had become a giant beast lion standing on its back legs. It was really buff with a dark blue body and black mane. It wore black arm wraps that went up to its elbows. It had bone white spikes coming off its shoulder and it also had three bone like things poking out of its chest. Beady red eyes could be seen from the parts in between its mane. It also had blood red claws on both its hands and feet. For some odd reason worn out gray pants with a skull black underwear over it.

“That is the ugliest lion I’ve ever seen.” Agumon gasped as the giant evil looking zoo animal.

“How many lions have you seen again?” Marcus asked as he put Jeri down on the ground.

“That’s MadLeomon.” Veemon spoke his eyes wide. “I here he can be just as strong, if not stronger then Leomon!”

“Please I’ve faced tougher kitties then these before. Let’s take him down!” Marcus shouted.

“Hold on. It may be better to get out of here for now.” Veemon advised. He pointed to both Calumon and Jeri. “We have others safety to worry about.”

“Yeah. You’re right.”

They all turned to find the stairs blocked by a massive door with a lock over it. They turned to Calumon to see the little Digimon was lying unconscious in Davis’s arms.

“Looks like we have no choice.” Davis sighed. However he knew a part of him wanted to fight MadLeomon which he cursed under his breath for feeling that way.

“Well. Let’s do this!” Marcus shouted. He launched forward toward MadLeomon and punched it straight in the face. He fist glowed a familiar orange.

“Digisoul Charge/ Digivolution Activate!” Both boys shouted as their Digimon glowed and digivolved into their next forms.

“Let’s go!” GeoGreymon roared as he charged towards MadLeomon. The giant lion had recovered at that point and glared at the large dinosaur coming at it.

 **“YOU THINK YOU CAN SAVE ‘ME’?”** MadLeomon cackled, **“PLEASE ALL YOU’LL DO IS GET YOURSELVES KILLED. JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!”**

Davis shuddered. Is this what Jeri was really feeling? Well it could have been really just a fake Jeri throwing out lies to mess with Jeri. But that would either mean the world does this to torture the person who enters in here before killing them, however that didn’t explain why Marcus nor Davis faced anything like that. Another option is that the murder had done extensive research on the victim and created a fake being that knew just what to say to torture the victim before, yet again killing them. Both options were pretty screwed up.

Davis shook his head. No. Both of those options were probably false. One a world can’t specifically torture a person of its own volition and again it wouldn’t explain why Marcus and Davis’s didn’t appear, and Davis knew that the digital world would definitely know what to say against him. The second choice was also impossible as that would mean the murderer had to have extensive research on the victim, which by judging from Shadow Jeri’s that would involve both digital and real things. A digital being couldn’t find out that much on the human side. And that would be impossible to look into the digital side as since he nor Veemon heard anything about other digidestined, he doubted another would and its impossible that the DATS Marcus was talking about could do that much research since they couldn’t look too much into the digital meaning no human murderer could figure out this much about someone. But that would mean….

 _“Once you eliminate the impossible whatever’s left, no matter how ridiculous it is, is the right answer.”_ A memory passed through Davis’s head made him nod.

 _“Then that means that those are Jeri’s true feelings about herself and that it came from her. Partially from the world but mostly from her as she is the only person that could know all that. Not to mention how freaked out she was from it.”_ Davis concluded. He would have to share this with the others when the fight was over. Speaking of which….

GeoGreymon had charged straight into MadLeomon. The dark lion griped him by the horns and was having a power struggle between the two of them to get the advantage over the other. ExVeemon flew over and was about to kick the dark lion when the thin tail came up and smacked him away like a fly.

“Ok. Time for another plan.” ExVeemon muttered. “V-Laser!”

He was about to shoot the beam when he realized he couldn’t get a clear shot as GeoGreymon was either being pushed into the line of fire or was pushing MadLeomon away. He shook his head before dropping to the ground. He rushed forward but was once again hit by the tail. The dragon growled in frustration before flying up and landing on GeoGreymon’s head. Again he couldn’t get a good aim as the wobbling from the struggle was throwing him off.

“GeoGreymon you need to overpower him!” ExVeemon yelled to the dinosaur.

“Don’t you think I’m trying that?” GeoGreymon responded as he continued to try to push MadLeomon to the ground.

“Dang it. If only ExVeemon was buffer.” Marcus growled.

“Yeah.” Davis nodded in agreement. Flamedramon and ExVeemon were fast, but not fast enough to out run that tail. It may be possible with Lightdramon to out speed the tail, but he wasn’t strong enough to do too much damage. Not to mention without Ken and Stingmon there is no way he could get to ultimate level to help over power the beast.

_Beep_

Davis blinked when he heard the small electronic beep. He looked down to see his digivice had received a message. A pressed a button and it read:

_Hey Daisuke. It’s me Helena. I know I told you I told you everything, but I forgot to tell you something. You see Veemon has a new digivolution line that he has obtained from the bond you formed with the team. You may want to try it out now considering your current situation._

_“How does she even know?”_ Davis thought as he pulled out his last Digivolution card with a man about to walk off the cliff on the back.

“ExVeemon! I’m going to try something so you may want to step away for a moment!” Davis shouted. The dragon gave him a curious look before flying back to him. Davis held the card and then swiped it. The familiar glow appeared on ExVeemon as his body began to change again. His wings went into his back and disappeared. His body became much larger and bulkier. The sliver metal like horn became more like that of GeoGreymon’s except it was white and lost the X on his stomach. His body obtained unknown scars on them and white appeared around his hands and feet. He was all in all, a fatter and bulkier ExVeemon. (Excluding the lack of wings.) Though he was smaller than GeoGreymon.

“Veedramon!” The dinosaur yelled. Davis stared in shock at a Greymon like Veemon.

“Dai.” Marcus deadpanned.

“Yeah Marcus?” Davis responded.

“This is getting ridiculous.”

“You’re telling me.” Veedramon growled with a smile showing sharp white teeth.

“Well with this though we may be able to overpower MadLeomon!” Davis cheered.

Veedramon took that as his cue as he turned around and stomped over to GeoGreymon and MadLeomon. MadLeomon stared in shock as Veedramon went behind him and tried to whack away the dinosaur with his tail. It was in vain however as now Veedramon had the weight to hold his ground against the tail.

The lion Digimon, not wanting to take on two giant dinosaurs on both sides, decided to let go of GeoGreymon and jump up and grab the hanging flickering light above them.

 **“SO WHAT? JUST BECAUSE YOU GET A FAT DINOSAUR YOU THINK YOU CAN FIGHT ME?”** MadLeomon cackled. **“PLEASE! YOU’LL ALL DIE IN THE END ONCE YOU GET THE OTHER ME! SHE’LL JUST GET YOU KILLED!”**

“No! That’s not true!” Calumon shouted weakly from Davis’s arms. “Jeri…. Jeri…..!”

**“I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!”**

MadLeomon lifted its hand and shouted, **“BEAST BLASTER!”**

He punched before him and a dark twisted lion face soon was shot at where the others were standing. Davis felt Marcus push him down by Jeri and watched worriedly as the older brunette bent over them to shield the blow.

“V-Breath Arrow/ Mega Burst!” The dinosaur Digimon yelled as they launched both blue and red flames at the lion face and pushed back.

“Hey that’s not fair!” GeoGreymon yelled as he launched another attack with Veedramon onto the next Beast Blaster.

“That was close. We need more power with just one of them if that is going to keep coming at us. Even with Veemon’s new digivolution. That way one can protect and the other attack.” Marcus cursed. He obviously wasn’t fazed about what had just happened.

“Marcus!” Davis yelled angrily. “Don’t do that! What if that hit you?”

“Well you and the others would be ok wouldn’t they?” Marcus asked innocently before laughing. “I guess it was just instinct though. Plus if I didn’t then you would have and I’m not having that!”

Davis just sighed, but he couldn’t help but smile up at Marcus. He felt worried yeah, but at the same time it made him happy for someone to care enough to shield a deadly blow like that.

“Thanks Marcus.” Davis whispered.

Marcus’s emerald eyes held confusion before he smiled at the boy below him, “Sheesh. We’re friends there is no reason for you to say thank you.”

Davis couldn’t help smiling even wider. He couldn’t understand why just one sentence made him happy or why he had to smile at it. He couldn’t help but start to see Marcus as a friend as well.

_Beep_

Davis blinked away from Marcus and looked at his Digivice. Marcus’s did a similar sound and he pulled it up to his face.

“What does it mean when it says the Emperor Bond had grown?” Marcus asked as he arched a brow.

Davis eyes widened as he looked at his digivice. He remembered what the voice had said before of the bond he formed. That must mean that the Emperor bond was with Marcus! He looked closely to see it was at two. He flicked to the sun and saw that it was also at level two.

“I-I don’t completely understand myself.”  Davis stumbled.

“Woah!” GeoGreymon roared. When another Beast Blast had arrived GeoGreymon reacted more quickly and with more power than before, thus pushing it back on his own.

Everyone gawked. Davis blinked a few times before a realization hit him.

“I see. When the Emperor Bond grows, GeoGreymon grows stronger. That would explain why I would have only just a Fool Card and a Sun Card for a digivolution.” Davis whispered.

“For a guy who says he doesn’t understand you seem to have a good grip on what is going on.” Marcus deadpanned.

“Doesn’t matter right now. This is our chance to attack MadLeomon without us getting hurt!”

“Right!” Veedramon growled before turning around and faced MadLeomon. He launched a V-Breath Arrow at the lion but he swatted it away with his hand.

“Okay! This is getting ridiculous!” Davis growled. “First we needed a bigger ExVeemon, then we needed GeoGreymon to become more powerful and now we need something else? How tough can one kitty be?”

“If we could get a distraction.” Marcus said as he began to move off of Davis but the mahogany haired boy grabbed his arm.

“Hold on. We would be in a previous situation we were in last time, but worse since Veedramon doesn’t have enough power to protect one of us if GeoGreymon can’t protect us both at the same time!”

“Darn it! Your right. But what else can we do?”

Davis’s eyes widened, “The cards!”

“More cards?”

Davis moved awkwardly from where he sat to grab the cards he kept in his back pocket and pulled them out. He shuffled through them before finding one he thought could be useful.

“Ok. This may or may not save us.” Davis stated as he took the Biyomon card with two people and a tree on the back in his hand and placed it at the slider. Marcus nodded in understanding as Davis swiped the card through.

All of a sudden a pink bird the size of a child appeared behind Marcus. It turned over to Davis tilted its head before nodding and flying on over to MadLeomon.

 _“Spiral Twister!”_ Biyomon shouted as it shot green flames at MadLeomon.

MadLeomon not expecting an attack from a new Digimon got hit directly. It raised an arm to attack the new enemy.

““Now!”” Davis and Marcus shouted at once. The two dinosaurs took the cue and both aimed at MadLeomon.

““Mega Busrt/Full Charge V-Breath Arrow!” GeoGreymon and Veedramon shouted launching their attacks at the lion who was distracted. The Shadow Digimon roared in rage as it was knocked down from the flickering light.

 **“YOU THINK…. YOU CAN SAVE ‘ME’?”** MadLeomon laughed. **“FINE GO AHEAD. YOU’LL ONLY HAVE LOSE SOMETHING YOU LOVE ALONG THE WAY!”**

“You’re wrong!” Veedramon roared. He launched another blue fire ball at the lion. It blocked the attack but it seemed to have done some damage. “If we lose something it is because of our own rash decisions that we make! Not Jeri’s! It’s not her fault she ended up here! And no matter what we’ll make her see that. She needs to know that it isn’t her fault for those deaths.”

“Jeri!” Calumon spoke as he hopped out of Davis’s arms and flew to the now standing girl. Davis and Marcus both looked up to see tears streaming down her eyes.

“B-but…” Jeri sobbed.

“Theirs’s no need to be so upset.” GeoGreymon spoke. He has charged the great beast. It held on as Geogreymon began to push, trying to get his horns to stab the awful beast. “I mean Boss has messed up before as well which caused some bad things to happen. Trust me on this, he has messed up a lot.”

“Hey!” Marcus yelled infuriated. But then he calmed down. “Though I hate to admit it, he is right. I had messed up really badly before and it nearly cost me that big dino you see over there. I don’t know what you’ve been through. I don’t even know if I could imagine it. But I do know you’ve had it rough and that you feel some guilt of what seems to be the deaths of those around you.”

Davis blinked. He hadn’t really imagined Marcus as the type to be able to comfort someone. Davis could see the brunette was having some trouble but he seemed to be doing all right.

“So um.... Man this is hard to say.”

“I- I don’t really get it completely, but I think I can feel what you are saying.” Jeri mumbled. MadLeomon roared in rage as GeoGreymon began to gain the advantage and Veedramon saw this as his chance to join in on pushing the Shadow Digimon back.

“So maybe you shouldn’t sweat over it too much.” Davis put in. “After all you aren’t alone. You said that you would end up hurting people in the end right?”

Jeri nodded numbly.

“But your friends back in your hometown, which I assume were the ones that tried to save you, seem to still care about you. Not to mention that if it really was all your fault don’t you think they would not hang around you?”

“It’s not quite like that.” Jeri mumbled. MadLeomon was beginning to gain back some strength again.

“Then tell us Jeri.” Calumon whispered as he hugged the girls head. “I don’t like seeing you like this.”

“Jeri. You see that thing right?” Davis pointed to MadLeomon. Jeri nodded. “Those are your true feelings. The things you hide inside and wish for others not to see. You need to accept it if you want to move on.”

“B-but. I… I’m not useless! I…” Jeri denied. MadLeomon was pushing them back now. “I….”

“Don’t want to admit to your feelings?” Veedramon spoke from his position. “Jeri that we’ll only make it worse. You’re basically lying to yourself. You aren’t being you.”

Jeri look up. The words beginning to sink in. She held her hands together as she thought it all over. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, a fire was in the brown eyes. She wiped her tears as she began to step toward MadLeomon who was getting weaker and weaker as she got closer. Soon GeoGreymon and Veedramon were able to start pushing it against the wall.

“I need to accept that part of me huh?” Jeri sighed. MadLeomon roared in agony when Jeri said that. The shadows that had merged with it from before began to dissipate around it. “The part that sees myself as useless. The part of me that hates what happened and blame myself and others for it, who acted like a small child. The me that took my anger out on others. And the me that isn’t strong enough to say ‘I need to move on.’”

When Veedramon and GeoGreymon de-digivolved and stepped back, Shadow Jeri was sitting down looking at Jeri with empty eyes.

“I understand now. I need to accept what happened. What I did after and learn to get stronger.” Jeri looked her shadow right in her eyes that seemed to have a hopeful look to them. “I know now. That you are me and I am you.”

Shadow Jeri nodded with a smile. A yellow light came through the ceiling and encased the Shadow Person in its light. Shadow Jeri’s body seemed to digitize and went up a bit. It began to reform itself into a new animal like form.

The new creature was of a red quadruped. Its body was chubby and it’s legs were a bit short but strong. It had a white underbelly and three white claws on each of its paws. It had nine small tails that had purple stripes meeting on the back and going all the way to the forehead. It had two rabbit like ears with purple stripes not connected to its back stripes. Soon it was put gently down on the floor.

“That’s Elecmon.” Veemon spoke looking at the Digimon before them. It stirred and open its blue eyes.

“W-where?” Elecmon spoke. Davis was shocked to hear a deep voice come out of its mouth. Well it wasn’t that deep but it was still deep for an Elecmon.

The Digimon looked at each person and Digimon in turn. His eyes widened when he landed on Calumon.

“Calumon?” Elecmon spoke shocked. Then he turned his gaze to Jeri and his eyes widen even more. “Jeri?”

“Is…. Is that?” Jeri stuttered as she took a step forward and kneeled down before the Digimon. “Is that you Leomon?”

“Yes Jeri. It is me.” Elecmon spoke. He smiled a kind smile that caused Jeri to gasp. Tears sprung to Jeri’s eyes as she quickly wrapped her arms around Elecmon. Her sobs echoed around the room. The others looked with a small feeling of happiness for the two. Even though most of them didn’t know what happened, they knew that it had been a long time since the two have seen each other.

“I-I thought you were gone for good!” Jeri sobbed as her arms tightened around the now choking Elecmon.

“I-I did too Jeri.” Elecmon spoke.

“Jeri!” Calumon cheered as he flew on top of the girl’s head. “I’m so glad you’re safe!”

“Calumon!” Jeri gasped as she let go of Elecmon and brought the white creature to her face. “Are you ok and…. Oh my goodness I haven’t seen you in so long as well!”

Jeri hugged Calumon tightly but the small Digimon didn’t seem to mind it too much.

“Anyways. I think it would be a smart idea to get out of here.” Elecmon stood up. “I don’t know what happened but I can sense that this place is dangerous.”

“Yeah we should get going. Right Boss?” Agumon asked as everyone turned over to him. Everyone but Agumon and Calumon gave arched brows at the position the two boys were in.

“What?” Marcus asked.

“Um….. You two have been in that position ever since I woke up.” Jeri spoke as she stood up.

Davis’s eyes suddenly widened at how close the older boy was to him and the position they were in. Marcus was propped above Davis’s with his arms on either side of the now blushing boy and both of Marcus’s legs were also on either side of Davis’s. His face was fairly close to Davis’s and the poor boy now realized that he had felt Marcus’s breath earlier and now he was blushing even redder now.

“Yep! Let’s go!” Davis squeaked as he managed to slide out of Marcus’s arm and leg cage and stand up. Everyone gave him a curious or confused stare at the boy’s reaction. Except Veemon. He was too busy trying to hold back his laughter at his partner. “I mean I have a lot of questions so we need to get out of here so we can talk in peace.”

“Yes. I also have my own questions.” Jeri agreed though a smirk was on her face.

“Calumon if you would please.” Davis hurried. Calumon nodded as he charged his move.

“Path of Safe Return!” Calumon called as a white light enveloped them all. Soon they found themselves back in the gray grassy field with the t.v in the center.

“OK. Let’s head back to the real world. I’m hungry!” Agumon cheered.

“Yep. Come on everyone!” Davis spoke as he rushed over to the T.V.

“But I can’t go through the T.V…” Calumon mumbled sadly.

“No worries Calumon. I think I can help you with that.” Jeri smiled.

“Yay!”

“Won’t Digimon in the real world cause a fuss?” Elecmon asked.

“No worries I know just the way to make you guys go around unnoticed.” Marcus claimed proudly.

“No! Boss it’s so cramped in there!” Agumon whined.

“Huh? That worries me a little.” Veemon added.

“It’s the digivice right? We’ll just go somewhere that little people we’ll interrupt. And we can let you out and breathe there.” Davis spoke.

“I know just the place!” Jeri cheered happily.

Veemon turned to Davis and whispered, “Yeah. Then you and Marcus can go there alone.”

“Veemon!” Davis blushed as he pushed his partner away. “Drop that ok. It meant nothing.”

“Yeah Veemon leave him alone. Boys will be boys when it comes to this.” Jeri giggled.

“Not you too!”

“There is nothing to be ashamed of Davis.” Elecmon spoke with a straight face.

“I don’t think you understand what is going on here!”

“What is going on?” Marcus asked tilting his head.

“Do you remember the position you and Davis were in during most of the fight?” Veemon asked.

“Yeah what of it?”

Jeri beckoned Marcus over and began whispering in his ear. Marcus’s eyes widened.

 _“Good! Someone else that will defend me on this!”_ Davis thought with relief. However that was quickly shattered.

“Well that seems possible. I mean I would probably be the dominate one anyways.” Marcus nodded his head in understanding. Davis gaped.

“Boss what are you guys talking about?” Agumon asked.

“You wouldn’t understand even if I went into great detail.”

“Maybe you should tell Agumon in great detail just so we can see Dai’s face.” Veemon chuckled. Jeri joined in too.

“Has he not have the Hawkmon and the Beemon talk yet?” Elecmon asked confusedly.

“All of you,” Davis muttered and everyone turned their attention to him. He then went on to shout, “I’m done. You guys can figure out the rest of the adventure yourself! I’m done with all of you!”

With that Davis went and pulled his digivice out and pointed it at the T.V.

“Wait Dai!”

“Davis I’m sorry!”

“Dai! Don’t be like that!”

“I’m confused. Why is he so upset?”

“I’m hungry. Jeri! Do you have any Guilmon bread?”

Once they all were through and put all the Digimon other than Calumon in the digivices, the others began to apologize to the offended Davis who had his arms crossed and his cheeks puffed a bit. Though he felt embarrassed after a while he got over it and soon joined the others in pleasant conversation. He couldn’t help but smile over at the jokes the others made.

His digivice beeped and he grabbed it and checked to see what it had to say this time. He felt another faint smile show on his face when he read the Fool Social Link had gained another level.

Maybe forming bonds isn’t so bad after all.


	12. What We Have So Far

“Here we are!” Jeri announced once she climbed up the ladder. “I can’t believe it’s not even sundown yet!”

Davis and Marcus looked around to see it was just an empty rooftop.

“Ummm. Jeri isn’t this just the rooftop to your house?” Davis asked.

“Yes. But don’t worry. No one can see us unless they climb up here. Plus my family doesn’t come up here at all so it’ll be fine to talk here.”

“Sounds good to me! Agumon Realize!” Marcus yelled and the usual yellow dinosaur popped out.

“Aw! Sweet freedom!” Agumon sighed as the other Digimon came out of the digivices.

“OK now time to get to business.” Davis clapped his hands together as everyone sat down. “First things first. Jeri, do you know how you ended up in the Digital World?”

Jeri shook her head, “No. One moment I was at home, the next thing I knew, I was lying unconscious in…. that place.”

“So no leads on the murderer huh?” Davis sighed. Then turned to Elecmon. “Do you know how you got there?”

“No. I don’t even know how I am here. I had died during a fight in the Digital World and had my data absorbed. So there should be no physical way I should be here.”

“Your data was absorbed?” Marcus asked. “Don’t most Digimon turn back into digi-eggs when they die?”

“Huh? Once a Digimon dies, they stay dead.” Jeri frowned.

“Oh I’ve heard of this.” Veemon spoke and everyone turned to him. “I hear in a certain area of the Digital World, Digimon’s data doesn’t recycle and return to a digi-egg due to the program to do so was deleted during the D-Era. It might also apply to some real world areas that are connected to that section of the Digital World.”

“The South Section is what you must be talking about.” Elecmon spoke. “Yes from what I heard that area was hit hardest during the first threat of the D-Reaper.”

“Is that why it’s all sandy?” Calumon asked.

“Yes. A lot of its original data was deleted by the D-Reaper, Zhuqiaomon had barely made it livable enough for most of the residents of the South Section. Though some areas could not be fully recovered like the desert areas we all have seen. Not to mention the only way to help keep that section going Zhuqiaomon had to connect to the real world directly to sustain it. And that’s why Digimon of the South Section would absorb others because it was one of the main ways to gain power. Thus some chaos in that area.”

“What exactly is a D-Reaper?” Marcus asked. “I’ve never heard of it before.”

“Yeah neither have I.” Davis agreed.

Jeri’s eyes widened, “You mean you didn’t see the entire invasion three years ago? The D-Reaper had invaded and was beginning to destroy parts of the real world.” She then bowed her head. “Mainly because of me.”

“Jeri it isn’t you fault.” Calumon whispered.

“Well if it was three years ago I may know why I may have not seen it.” Marcus pondered.

“Huh?” Davis and Jeri asked at once.

“Three years ago I was trying to stop the Digital World from colliding with our world.”

“What?!” Both Jeri and Davis shouted at once.

“Yeah. Boss and I also had to stop the Royal Knights from destroying the human world.” Agumon declared proudly.

“You faced the Royal Knights and lived?” Veemon asked shocked.

“Yeah. Though it wasn’t just me and Agumon that help stop the Royal Knights. Anyways, soon they joined our side and we all were able to stop the two worlds from colliding.” Marcus explained. “So that might explain why I haven’t seen the D-Reaper. Though it sounds like a tough opponent.”

“Trust me. That thing was really scary.” Calumon whimpered.

“So what about you Davis? Seen either of these events?” Elecmon asked.

“No.” Davis shook his head. “Three years ago my group was trying to stop MaloMyotismon from destroying the Digital World with his dark powers.”

“Oh yeah. He was taking the dark of emotions of children that were there and the dark emotions of people on Earth to do that right?” Jeri asked. Veemon and Davis’s eyes widened at that.

“How did….?” Veemon began and Jeri’s eyes widened.

“Well you see…” Jeri rubbed the back of her head. “You guys are on this T.V show I watched, and after the D-Reaper event that episode came out.”

““Say what?!”” Davis and Veemon shouted at once.

“Yeah. You didn’t know?” Jeri asked curiously.

“So that’s what Gennai meant.” Veemon spoke. “He said he was going to do something to blow over the entire events of what happened. He must have made a T.V show of what happened based on those events.”

“You serious? Without our consent?” Davis asked furious. So every person who watched that would have seen all his mess ups? That’s great!

“What else happened with that show?” Agumon asked curious.

“They showed this weird epilogue thing with all the digidestined grown up,” Jeri spoke before turning to Davis, “Which I’m guessing isn’t true since you’re my age.”

“You’re kidding.” Davis sighed before laying down. “When I get my hands on Gennai!”

“Wait doesn’t that mean you knew who Dai and I were?” Veemon asked.

“Well yes, but like I said it was just a T.V show and I heard most of this stuff from Takato and my other friends so I didn’t know exactly what you looked like.” Jeri explained.

“Does it still air?” Marcus asked.

“Oh God! Does it?” Davis groaned as he brushed a hand through his hair. He really hated Gennai now.

“No. For some odd reason it stopped airing a week or two after the episode aired and all recordings you would find online mysteriously disappeared. They still sold the cards but they aren’t as popular as they were.” Jeri spoke.

“Ok. So basically all the things that happened to us though seemed to happen at the same time?” Veemon asked.

“It would look like it.” Elecmon agreed.

“But at the exact same time and they ended at the exact same time? Sounds impossible.” Marcus pointed out.

“They may not have begun at the same time, but they must have ended around the same time. It’s the only possible explanation for why we don’t know about each other’s events.” Davis argued. “I would take a guess why there wasn’t some mass panic going on was because of some mass memory wipe on all people who aren’t digidestined. Though that would be hard.”

“I guess that’s true.” Marcus rubbed his temples. “How about we talk about our adventures another time. This is kinda hurting my head.”

“Ok. It’s probably better to talk about what’s going on right now.” Davis agreed.

“Yes. I defiantly need to know about this.” Jeri spoke as she pulled out her digivice. It was just like Marcus’s and Davis’s except for that it was yellow with white buttons. “Why did my digivice change?”

“I think it had to do with how it needed to change.” Veemon tilted his head in thought.

“I see. It needed to become that form for whatever reason. Like how mine now allows me to use cards and store you in the digivice for easy transport.” Davis spoke as he looked at his digivice. “Also it may have changed so it could work again. Remember how it wasn’t working before it changed?”

“Sounds about right.” Agumon mumbled. “So then what about the area of that place is? Is it part of the Digital World?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“Don’t worry about it Davis. I don’t think any of us really know where that place is.” Jeri reassured. She tapped her chin. “Not that I’m complaining, far from it, but how is Elecmon supposed to be here? He had his data absorbed in the South Section.”

“Did anything happened when you died?” Davis asked the red Digimon. “I don’t exactly know what happens when a Digimon is absorbed.”

“Well…” Elecmon began, “When I was destroyed and absorbed I felt my conscious go into two separate places. One was more asleep then the other while the other was like being near Jeri the entire time. I felt all of her emotions and was able to piece together the entire D-Reaper incident. The only time I really felt alive again was when I saw Jeri and Calumon all of a sudden in the heart of the D-Reaper.”

“You must have reawakened when Beelzebubmon used Fist of the Beast King to try and save me and Calumon.” Jeri whispered.

“Ah! So Beelzebubmon had become good in the end?” Elecmon asked and Jeri nodded. “Good. It seemed Renamon really cared for him.”

“Anyways what happened after that?” Agumon asked. He was leaning forward anxious of what would happen next.

“Then my consciousnesses became one and I saw the rest of what happened during the D-Reaper incident. I went to sleep when the other Digimon left and then woke up in the hospital room.”

“Ah. I see.” Davis hummed.

“You do? I’m kinda confused.” Jeri blushed.

“Yeah. From the looks of it some of Leomon’s data after being absorbed by Beelzebubmon was sent to your digivice. Like how we store our Digimon now. After Beelzebubmon used the move he had accidently sent Leomon’s data toward you and it went where the little bit of it was and went straight there. Your digivice was acting like a beacon for it to follow since you already had the necessary data for it to complete itself.”

“Dai. You’re kinda hurting my head.” Agumon groaned as fell back from the confusion of what Davis said.

”Sorry. The data just went to the nearest place to store itself, that being Jeri’s digivice.” Davis simplified.

“Ok. Then how does that explain how Elecmon was revived?” Marcus asked tilting his head.

“The data must have released again in the Digital World once Shadow Jeri was defeated.”

“Yeah but how?” Calumon asked.

“Uhhhhh.” Davis was lost now. He had no idea how it worked, just, “I don’t know.”

“Don’t sweat it. You got a lot farther than any of us.” Marcus smiled down at Davis who smiled back. “Ok. What’s next?”

“The murders for sure.” Veemon spoke and soon the mood got serious.

“Murders?” Elecmon asked. Agumon turned over and explained the whole situation to the confused Digimon. “Ah I see. Continue.”

“So there are two so far right?” Jeri asked. “And we know that the people who die are related to the Digital World?”

“Yeah. But you need to remember that you were a possible target as well.” Davis answered. “So that’s one thing we know all the victims all have in common.”

“So far that’s all we know other than that weird e-mails pop up when someone has been thrown in.” Veemon added. “Well that’s what we think anyway since it seems that it all connects back to the Digital World.”

“You mean that weird e-mail that appears at midnight?” Jeri asked.

“Yes. We call it the Midnight E-Mail.” Davis answered. “You know about it?”

“Theirs’s a weird rumor going around school. I looked it up one time and saw the e-mail of the second victim. What’s weird though no one seems to notice the end part with the whole D.M, M.D, and J.K. What is all that about?”

“That’s what I’ve been thinking about but I still haven’t figured it out.” Davis sighed. “Though whatever it means it probably connected to the murders.”

“Hey maybe it’s your guys um..” Agumon tapped his chin. “Initials?”

Davis’s eyes widened at that. D.M, M.D and J.K. Of course! Daisuke Motomiya, Marcus Damon and Jeri Katou! How could he not notice it before! And when J.K was crossed out in that one video it was because Jeri had a chance to die!

“Idiot!” Marcus punched Agumon on the head. “How in the world could it be our initials? You barely know what that means!”

“Boss! You’re so mean!” Agumon whined.

“No, he’s right!” Davis gasped. “They are our initials.”

“Ha! Looks like you owe me an apology Boss!”

“Sheesh really?” Marcus gasped.

“Yeah. I think it’s our initials too. But what does it mean?” Jeri asked.

“Sounds to me whoever this murderer is wants us to be a part of it.” Elecmon grimaced. “Like we are some players in a game.”

“His toying with us!” Veemon growled in rage.

Davis recounted the e-mails. They were definatly taunting but at the same time it was like a threat. Saying ‘will you keep meddling in digital affairs?’. He had no idea what that meant, but he was determined to figure it out.

“Whatever it is, the Digital World and our world are probably in danger.” Davis spoke sitting up. “It may start out small now but it will probably grow into a large problem if we keep allowing it to happen.”

“Yeah! Looks like it’s fighting time.” Marcus punched the air.

“Thanks. Sorry I have to ask this of you Marcus, but I really don’t think Dai and I can do this by ourselves.” Veemon apologized. Though Davis hated to admit it there was no way he and Veemon could have beaten MadLeomon without Marcus and Agumon.

“Yeah we really need your help.” Davis agreed.

“Hey no problem! Boss and I like to fight any strong opponent we can.” Agumon smiled. “Plus were your friends so we are definatly going to help you out.”

Jeri look over at Elecmon, “Do you think?”

“Yes Jeri. I know I just came back and all but we do need to help them. Who knows what they may face?” Elecmon agreed. Jeri nodded her head before turning to the two planning boys.

“I-I want to help out as well.” Jeri said firmly. She leaned forward waiting for their answer.

The group look at Jeri in shock. They didn’t expect the girl they just saved to jump right into the action.

“Wait Jeri…” Davis began but said girl cut him off.

“I know. I know I just came out of a dangerous situation and am about to throw myself back in, but.” Jeri stopped and bowed her head. Thinking her words over before continuing. “I just don’t want to be useless anymore. I don’t want to be the damsel in distress that needs to be rescued and then forced into the sidelines, watching as her friends and saviors risk their lives, knowing she may be able to do _something.”_ She looked up with serious and new found fire in her eyes. “I want to be able to protect my friends from anything. Even if I end up being rescued in the end, I just want to know that I tried.”

Everyone gawked at Jeri’s speech. She blushed but held her stare on the boys. Marcus and Davis looked to their partner then to each other. Marcus nodded.

“Ok. Plus with how tough MadLeomon is, I can’t wait to see how Leomon handles himself.” Davis agreed.

“Thank you!” Jeri cheered as she hugged the boys then the Digimon in turn.

“I promise I will not let anything harm you.” Elecmon claimed as he stepped forward a bit.

“Do we try to contact our friends?” Calumon asked and Davis stiffened.

“Hmm. Maybe. Though I don’t think it will be possible to get their partners. That place really isn’t like the Digital World. So we can’t go off and find them.” Jeri hummed.

“Possibly but I don’t really have a way to contact them.” Marcus pondered. “I have their numbers but it’s been three years since I’ve last seen them. So I don’t know if anything changed or what’s going on.”

“What about your pals Dai?” Agumon asked. Davis was still sitting there, looking at them all with a look none of them could tell.

_“I need to think quickly of this one.”_ Davis thought as he shook his head.

“No. A lot of them are really busy now a days. Half of them in college. The others also do a lot of other things too so…” Davis stopped and did a fake sigh. “they won’t be able to help.”

“Oh yeah! A lot of them were sixteen when you fought MaloMyotismon and if it’s been three years it would make a lot of sense.” Jeri nodded in understanding. Davis smiled in relief when he saw Jeri buy his lie. From the corner of his eye he saw Marcus quirk a brow at him. However he then shrugged and agreed with what Jeri said.

“Is that all?” Davis asked changing the subject.

“No I think that’s all the questions I have.”

“Yeah I’m good too.” Marcus agreed.

“You guys?” Davis asked the Digimon. They all shook their heads. “Great! Then let’s all head home for today.”

Everyone cheered at that as they returned the Digimon to their digivices and began to climb down the ladder to the ground.

“Jeri!” Calumon cheered as he flew into the girl’s arms. “Can I stay with you? Can I? Can I?”

“Of course!” Jeri smiled as she placed the white Digimon on her head. “You didn’t even have to ask.”

“Hey Jeri.” Veemon spoke from the digivice. “How are you going to explain this to your parents?”

“No worries. I think I have a plan.” Jeri spoke as she skipped down to near the front.

“Hey since Calumon’s not stuck in the Digital World anymore are you two still going to stay there?” Davis asked the taller boy who had his arms over his head.

“Probably. I mean Agumon and I have nowhere else to stay.” Marcus answered.

Jeri suddenly stopped her skipping and whipped around.

“You have nowhere to stay?” Jeri asked as she stepped toward the boy.

“I mean I could head back home but that has got to be pretty far away.”

“That won’t do!” Jeri grabbed the boy’s hand. “You are staying with me until this is all over.”

“Huh? You serious?” Marcus asked as Jeri started dragging the boy over to the front.

“Absolutely! Where else will you go? Davis is just visiting here for a year and I’m sure my parents won’t mind with the explanation I give them.”

Davis taking this as his cue to leave, turned on the corner away from the restaurant and began to head home.

“Davis! Where are you going?” Jeri called out to the boy.

“Uh. Home?” Davis answered as he cocked his head back.

“Without saying goodbye?”

“Thought our conversation was over.”

“Sheesh. We wouldn’t leave you hanging like that.” Marcus sighed as he ruffled Davis’s hair. “Did you think we were going to leave you behind without a word?”

“…No.” Davis said after a pause.

“You were weren’t you?” Jeri deadpanned. She walked up to the shorter of the two boys and flicked his forehead.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“For being a stupid boy. Davis don’t think we were leaving you out and ignoring you just because we got caught up in something.” Jeri lectured. She smiled. “How about we all meet up tomorrow and do something that doesn’t involve murders and the Digital World? Might cheer us all up.”

“I’m all for it.” Marcus agreed. “How about you Dai?”

Davis stared for a moment. Usually when something like when Jeri and Marcus get into a conversation like that, he would usually be cast out and head home before he could actually get a word in that people would pay attention. Or if he decided to leave early no one would notice. Do having the two catch up to him and get him back in was kind of a shock.

“Earth to Dai.” Marcus voice broke Davis out of his musing to see a hand waving in front of his face. “If you’re not up to it, we can always do it another time.”

“No!” Davis exclaimed. It was weird how he had to exclaim that, but something inside him told him he wanted to hang out with them tomorrow. “I mean. I would like to hang out tomorrow.”

Jeri giggled, “You can be such a boy sometimes Davis.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Davis huffed crossing his arms.

“Oh nothing.” Jeri smiled. “Anyways. I’ll see you tomorrow Davis. I better head in now to explain some stuff to my parents and see if Marcus can stay over.”

“See ya later Dai!” Agumon called from the digivice.

“Be careful on the way home.” Elecmon said.

“Bye, bye Dai!” Calumon smiled.

Davis bid farewell to all the others before heading back home.

“Welcome back Daisuke.” Akiko called as Davis entered the home.

“Hey Daisuke.” Mochida yelled.

“Hi.” Davis responded. “I’m going up into my room. I’m beat after all that soccer practice.”

“Okay. Get a lot of rest.” They both called.

Davis nodded his head as he rushed into his room and fell onto the bed with a sigh. He wasn’t lying when he said he was beat. It felt like throughout the entire fight he could feel what Veemon was feeling, and it was kinda of stressful feeling all that pain and tiredness from his partner.

“Veemon. Realize.” Davis called as he pointed his digivice upward. A blue light and then DemiVeemon popped out of the digivice. “You already de-digivolved?”

“Of course! I’m tired ya know!” DemiVeemon yawned after saying that as he plopped onto Davis’s chest. “You try fighting both a demon and a rabid lion in a row.”

“Ha! No thank you!” Davis snorted.

“Anyways you ok?” DemiVeemon asked. He looked at Davis with concern in his eyes. “You know with the subject that was brought up and all.”

Davis flinched at that. He really didn’t really want to talk about it, but with how DemiVeemon was looking at him he decided to open up a little.

“Yeah I guess. Just…” Davis sighed. Ok this was harder then he thought. “It just hurts thinking about them so when it was brought up I was kind of caught off guard.”

“Daisuke.”

Davis smiled down at his partner. It was just comforting to know his partner was concerned for him all the time. He then thought back to the others and how they seemed to talk with one another. They all talked and laughed and when they got to the meeting everyone was taken seriously. It felt a bit like a team to him. More so then back in Odaiba.

“I think I’ll be fine DemiVeemon.” Davis smiled. It was a faint one but DemiVeemon could see it was genuine and not the fake he usually saw when Davis would tell him he would be fine. “Anyways, how about we get some rest? The others will want us to be at full energy after school.”

“Yes sir!”

Davis smiled as they both prepared for bed and got his pajamas on. Yeah. For once he felt like he’ll get a good night’s rest.


	13. The Blue Girl

Davis woke up to the sound of the alarm near his bed. He picked up his phone without opening his eyes and turned it off. He sighed as he rolled back around. He had such a peaceful night of sleep and he really wanted to go back to it.

“Dai.” DemiVeemon shook the lazy boy. “Dai. You have to go to school.”

“Five more minutes Mom.” Davis mumbled as he pushed the blue lizard away.

“Fine. Be that way. We’ll just not hang out with the others today.”

“What?!” Davis shot up. DemiVeemon smirked as Davis suddenly remembered the plans they made for after school. The boy scurried out of the bed, grabbed his uniform and rushed to the bathroom. Though Davis wasn’t completely like himself yet, DemiVeemon could tell the boy was getting better. Not even a nightmare tonight!

“What are smiling about?” Davis asked as he walked in and placed his new necklace for his digivice around his neck.

“Nothing~.” DemiVeemon sang as he hopped over to Davis. “Anyways. We better get going. I think Akiko may have already left.”

“Shoot!”

Davis picked up DemiVeemon and rushed outside to see Akiko walking alone to school.

“Akiko wait!”

“Hey Davis.” Jeri called to Davis once he entered the classroom. He gave a smile to the girl as he slid into the seat next to her.

“You doing ok?” Davis asked. “And how did it go with explaining with your parents?”

“I’m tired for sure but otherwise I’m all right.” She gave a yawn before continuing. “My parents were freaking out at first but they seemed satisfied with what I told them. Oh and Marcus was allowed to stay, as long as he stayed away from my room. Though he should more worried of him sneaking out and going to your house.”

“Jeri!” Davis blushed as he playfully punched the girl’s arm. “Can you guys just drop that already? He was shielding me from MadLeomon’s attack!”

Jeri giggled as the boy continued to protest. Davis, upon releasing this was what Jeri wanted to see, turned around with a huff. Which of course caused the girl to giggle more.

“Davis.” Jeri whispered once she was done giggling.

Davis turned around and glared a little.

“Yeah? I swear if it’s another…”

“It’s not.” Jeri interrupted and Davis’s glare disappeared. “I just wanted to thank you for saving me.”

“Huh?” Davis’s eyes widened.

“I know both you and Marcus saved me, but I really never thanked you personally. Not to mention that is was also thanks to you both I have Elecmon and Calumon back.”

Davis watched as tears rolled down Jeri’s eyes. She gave him a teary smile.

“It makes me really happy to have them both back. Especially since one of them is my partner that has been dead for three years. And now I can help you guys as well.”

“Jeri…” Davis muttered. Then he gave her a smile. “I’m glad you’re happy. Heck I’ve been separated from Veemon for two years so I know what you’re going through.”

“You do?” Jeri asked.

Davis nodded, “Yeah I do. I’m also really glad you’re on the team.”

Jeri smiled at him again at the words. It was good to hear the once cold Davis to speak so warmly at her. Davis looked her face over and had an idea. He thought it over first before reaching his hand forward and touching Jeri’s face.

“What…?” Jeri asked surprised as Davis wiped the tears from her eyes.

“So stop crying ok? I know your stronger then that since you can deal with me.”

“Sheesh Davis, when did you become so friendly?” Jeri joked with a blush as Davis took his hand away. “You used to be so cold and angsty.”

Davis puffed his cheeks in anger at that and once again turned away from Jeri.

“Well if you want me to go back to being cold and rude I will. I have no problems.”

“No! Daaavvvis!”

After that the two began to talk about other small things. Like how gross the cafeteria food is and clubs until the teacher walked in. Jeri began passing notes with Davis in class and the boy of course passed back. He almost got the both of them caught and Jeri was stifling a laughter when they figured out they weren’t found out. Davis let out a small chuckle at how he nearly messed them up.

All of a sudden the weird feeling that he thought he had gotten used to washed over him again.

_“I am thou…. And thou art I…. Thou hast established a new bond. It brings thee closer to the truth…. Thou shalt be blessed when using Digimon of the Strength Arcana.”_

_“Another bond… This time with Jeri.”_ Davis thought with a smile. Things were really looking up at this point.

“Ok class. Dismissed.” The teacher spoke breaking Davis out of his thoughts.

“Finally!” Davis stretched as he stood up. “School is finally over! ~”

“Come on, Marcus is probably waiting for us right now.” Jeri spoke as she and Davis exited the classroom.

“Is he already waiting in front of the school?”

Before Jeri could answer the both of them heard some girls from Davis’s class talking nearby.

“Have you seen that new third year transfer student Damon?” One of them stated.

“I have! Isn’t he really cute? I didn’t think a guy could pull off a ponytail like him.” Another added.

“I agree he is so dreamy.~ I hope he notices me.”

“Though I do think Marcus is good looking, I find Davis cuter. Even though his Japanese he has natural tan skin.” The third spoke.

“Well looks like you two are popular.” Jeri pointed out. Davis just rolled his eyes.

“I can see him being popular but not me. Wait…” Davis retorted and was about to point something

“Who’s popular?” Marcus asked as he walked down the stairs. Davis looked the boy over in his new outfit. Marcus wore the same uniform as Davis. He had the dull red jacket opened and the black dress pants as well. He had the white dress shirt completely buttoned up and a black dress tie hanging loosely around his neck. He had a black school bag swung over his shoulder and holding it with his right hand. He looked a lot like a typical anime bad boy to Davis.

“No one.” Jeri giggled as Marcus walked over.

“Anyways, Marcus what are you doing here?” Davis asked.

“I’m going here now. I’m only seventeen Davis, I still go to high school.” Marcus spoke.

“Well yeah, but how did you transfer. Plus you left for the Digital World by the end of the first year, shouldn’t you be a grade lower?”

“The school’s not that tight when it comes to letting new students come here. Though they were a bit upset when Marcus was enrolled just last night.” Jeri answered.

“What? That stuff only happens in anime and stories! Not in real life!”

“I see no problem with it.” Elecmon spoke from the digivice.

“You’re not even from this world!”

“You have to admit though, our lives are a lot like an anime.” Jeri pointed out. “Not to mention your adventures was broadcasted on T.V.”

“She has a point.” DemiVeemon spoke from Davis’s backpack.

“Quiet you!” Davis shook his backpack.

“Ow!” DemiVeemon yelped.

The others then walked out of the school after that. They went on over to Jeri’s place to grab a bite to eat.

“I’m home!” Jeri called.

“Welcome!” The man at the counter called in a cheerful tone. Davis noted that he was a happier since his visit yesterday. “Ah Jeri. You brought Marcus and… another boy?”

“Don’t worry Dad. His not staying here. Just grabbing a bite to go.” Jeri explained.

“Ok. It’ll come right up.”

“I’m going to need a lot.”

“Oh trust me. I know.”

After the meal was prepared the gang thanked Mr. Katou and went up to the roof to eat. Though Marcus had to make a second trip to get all the food.

“Foooooooddddd!” Agumon cheered as he somehow popped out of the digivice. “I’m starving!”

“Hey! Who let you out?” Marcus yelled angrily as he slapped Agumon’s claw away from the food that he just brought up.

“But Bossss!”

“If you eat it all you’re going to get fatter then you already are!”

“Boss! You are so mean!”

“You too get along so well.” Jeri giggled as she gave Agumon some ramen, which of course the dinosaur cheered in glee.

Marcus just rolled his eyes as he got his share and began digging in as fast as Agumon.

“The also share the same appetite.” Elecmon sweat dropped.

“I think they others do too.” Jeri smiled as she watched as Davis, Veemon and Calumon were also eating like they haven’t even seen food in days.

They all soon went into what Davis now sees as the usual banter. Theirs some teasing, jokes being made on the teachers and the homework that only Davis seems to have done.

“Sheesh Dai you really have become studious while I was away. You used to just toss this stuff as soon as we got home.” DemiVeemon whistled as he looked at all of Davis’s work. “When did you decide to do all this?”

“A few weeks after you left. Ken helped when I really needed it.” Davis answered. “Though after a while I had to do it one my own by myself.”

“Oh you mean Ken Ichijo right?” Jeri asked and Davis nodded. “I heard he got really famous, but most of my friends thought it was because of his role in Digimon. I guess it was more for his brains and talent in sports.”

“Ichijo? You mean that blue haired kid prodigy?” Marcus asked as he looked Davis’s work over. “Don’t tell me he was a Digi-something too?”

“Yeah. His a friend of ours and his partner is my best friend Wormmon.” DemiVeemon spoke proudly.

“I’ve been seeing him everywhere. Have you guys not hang out lately?” Jeri asked. Davis stiffened up a bit at that. Hang out lately? Ha! He would be lucky enough to even be able to text the guy, let alone speak to him face to face.

Davis sighed and shook his head. He didn’t blame Ken. It was kind of impossible since he knows how the boy is like. He was his DNA digivolve partner, so he should have a deep understanding of Ken. He knew if Ken knew what was going on with him or what was happening right now, he would be here in a heartbeat, but Davis couldn’t do that to the guy. Just dump him with his problems, problems he had a hard time telling even Veemon to. Not to mention that he knew Ken was having fun with what he was doing and the places he visited. He couldn’t take that away just for the blue haired boy to hear all his problems.

“Nah. But we still keep in touch now and again.” Davis lied.  “Anyways. Want to look at my work Jeri?”

“Yes!” Jeri smiled happily as she looked through Davis’s work and wrote down what she thought was important to know or answers that she would look at to see if she was right.

Davis helped here and there and he even had to explain it a couple of times to the Digimon who were trying to understand the weird math that humans did.

“Why would humans need to know what X is? Isn’t that a letter in their language?” Elecmon questioned as he looked at one of the algebra questions.

“Maybe so they can eat it?” Calumon wondered. “Maybe it tastes good.”

“Ooooo! I want to try a X. I want to try one!” Agumon cheered as he tried to lick Jeri’s homework.

Jeri laughed, “Agumon! No! How will I explain to my teacher that you ate my homework?”

“Homework’s edible? Boss always told me that it wasn’t.”

“I wonder why?” DemiVeemon replied sarcastically. Everyone laughed.

Davis smiled a bit when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned his gaze to find emerald eyes staring him down.

“You ok?” Marcus asked looking Davis up and down. He didn’t know what exactly wrong with the boy he was looking at, but he couldn’t help but feel that something was off in the new ally he had. Marcus may not be the best at reading people but he could at least be able to tell physical movements that happen at certain times. It was something an ultimate fighter had to pick up on if he wanted to be the best, and with the way Davis stiffened up on certain subjects were not unnoticed by the oldest member of their current group.

“Yeah totally fine.” Davis smiled. Marcus stared at him a bit more. Davis felt like he was being watched for any sign of movement and felt like he was something being scrutinized. Marcus leaned forward causing Davis to blush.

“Why do you like invading my personal space?” Davis hissed at the boy. Marcus tilted his head in confusion before leaning back again and chuckling. “Now I’m thinking you’re doing it on purpose.”

“Nah. You would be able to tell if I did it on purpose.” Marcus laughed and then patted Davis on the back. “But seriously if something is wrong let me know ok?”

“Hmmmm. Yeah sure.” Davis nodded.

“Good. Now that that’s out of the way….. Agumon! Did you just eat my share?” Marcus leapt and punched the yellow dinosaur on the head.

“But Boss! Jeri wouldn’t let me eat the X!” Agumon whined.

Davis laughed. Soon the others joined in and the rest of the day went on like that.

Davis woke up the next morning with the sun shining in his face. He pulled his phone over to his face and read that it was 10:30 a.m. He sighed in content as he got up. Sunday had to be Davis’s favorite day for the pure fact of no school and sleeping in.

“DemiVeemon wake up.” Davis yawned as he pushed the small lizard off the bed.

“Ow.” DemiVeemon pouted as he stood back up. “Daisuke. That was rude.”

“You must have the wrong Daisuke if you could possibly think I wouldn’t do that.” Davis joked as he grabbed his casual clothes and began changing into them.

“So what are we doing today?”

“Well. I was planning on heading over to Jeri’s to…” Davis began but was interrupted by the creepy opera music blaring from his phone. “Or Helena torturing me first thing in the morning.”

Davis finished changing and grabbed the phone. He answered and placed the phone to his ear.

“This is Motomiya.”

“Ah. Daisuke. How was your day?” Helena asked in an unusually sweet tone.

“I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else. You see the person I was expecting would not be this nice.” Davis said tiredly. “Now what do you want?”

“Wow. That’s mean Daisuke.” Helena huffed before continuing. “I need to ask you a favor.”

“Oh god….”

“Hey! Don’t get scared before I even ask you!”

“Fine. What do you want?”

“Come to the Velvet Room immediately. I’ll explain the rest then.” Helena then hung up.

Davis rolled his eyes. DemiVeemon gave him the ‘were doing something else now’ look. Davis nodded his head as he put DemiVeemon in his bag and walked out the door.

“Daisuke!” Helena greeted when he reached the entrance of the Velvet Room. She gave him a glare. “It took you forever to get here! What took you so long?”

Davis rolled his eyes, “Well excuse me princess but I decided that walking here was better than running.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Helena waved her hands. “Now that you’re here you can go about doing my favor.”

“Can you tell me what it is first?”

“You have to hang out with me all day!” Helena cheered. “Hey where are you going?”

Davis had begun to walk around as soon as he heard the words ‘hang out’ and ‘me’. He turned his head over to the white haired girl.

“Why would I want to? And why do you want to hang out with me?” Davis asked.

“Well….” Helena turned around. “It’s so boring in there and I don’t know much about your world so…”

“Wait you’re not from this world?” Davis asked shocked.

“Of course! I told you when we first met that we were in a place between dream and reality.”

Helena took careful steps towards Davis. The short girl looked up at him with a smile.

“So do you mind if you show me around?”

Davis looked at the yellow pleading eyes. Though Helena did annoy him and he most likely annoyed her, she still was helping him out and explaining some of the stuff that was going on. So he sighed and nodded.

“Fine I’ll help you out. But if you annoy me too much you can find your own way back to the Velvet Room.”

“Yes! Now can you show me where we can find something good to eat? I hear food around here is good!” Helena smiled.

Davis really didn’t know many places in the town himself but he did know one place where he could take her that he liked enough.

“Welcome Davis!” Mr. Katou greeted cheerily. “Man you’ve only been in town for about a week and you already became a regular here!”

“Yeah I guess so.” Davis smiled as he led Helena to the table. Mr. Katou studied the strangely dressed girl for a moment before shrugging.

“Aw. This place is so much bigger then the Velvet Room.” Helena gasped her eyes scanning the entire establishment in childlike wonder. “They serve food here?”

“I wouldn’t bring you here if they haven’t.” Davis looked around. When he looked towards the stairs he saw Calumon and Agumon peering in from the hallway obviously watching him and the girl he was with. Davis was about to rush over when he saw Elecmon chase them back up the stairs.

“Davis can I be let out now?” DemiVeemon whispered from the backpack.

“Sure thing. Head to the stairs. The other Digimon are up them. Be stealthy ok?” Davis answered. DemiVeemon nodded and Davis let his blue friend out and secretly head towards the stairs.

“Your partner is quite cute.” Helena spoke spooking the Davis that was watching his partner. “Nothing like you at all.”

Mrs. Katou came by and began to take their orders. They gave them before continuing their conversation.

“Oh hardy har har.” Davis rolled his eyes. Why did he agree to this again?

“So the Digimon at the staircase belong to your friends am I correct?” Helena asked peering over the stairs. Earning some stairs from some customers.

“Will you stop that?” Davis hissed as he pulled Helena back into a sitting position. “People of my world don’t know about Digimon!”

“Hmm. I see. Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Helena asked.

“Ii thought it was pretty self-explanatory since no one is walking around with Digimon!”

“You know, this is why you aren’t as cute as DemiVeemon.”

Before Davis could retort a friendly voice interrupted him.

“Hi Davis!” Jeri greeted. She placed the ramen bowls on the table in front of them.

“Hey Jeri.” Davis responded. He looked over at her to see her wearing something akin to a black maid like outfit. It was flamboyant, like something you would see at a maid café, but it was still a little weird in a tavern like this. “Why are you wearing that?”

“Oh this? Just something I thought would help business, plus a mother of a friend of mine made it just for me.” Jeri giggled as she did a little twirl. She then turned her gaze toward Helena and tilted her head. “Who is this?”

“I’m Helena. It’s a pleasure to meet you Jeri.” Helena smiled.

_“How come you aren’t that nice to me?”_ Davis thought before shaking his head and beginning to dig in.

“She’s a friend that is helping us with our current situation.” Davis told Jeri before going back to his food..

“Ah. The girl that told you how to use the cards right?” Jeri questioned and Davis nodded. “Then thank you for helping us Helena.”

Jeri looked over Helena’s outfit, “That’s a nice outfit. I wonder if it would look good on Rika.”

“Ah. Thank you. I think your outfit is very nice as well. I think it would look good on Daisuke.”

Jeri choked. Davis choked. Helena just stared at them both blankly.

“W-what?” Davis finally said after he stopped choking on the food he was eating.

“I said ‘I think Daisuke would look good in it.’ Is it that hard to understand?” Helena answered. “It’s nice, black seems like a color good on you and you have a good enough figure to be seen in something like that.”

Jeri looked Davis up and down as if looking to see what Helena said was true, but Davis didn’t pay attention to that.

“Why in the world would you think that? I mean I have nothing against guys who are into that thing, but I certainly don’t look like a girl! I think I at least have some muscle on me to look more guyish.” Davis growled angrily. Then Jeri gasped. “What?”

“She’s right. You would look so cute in it!” Jeri looked over Davis in amazement. “You look like a guy, but no doubt you would look so adorable in a maid outfit.”

“WHAT!?” Davis yelled shocked.

“Hmmm. Maybe that is what would make you look as cute as DemiVeemon.” Helena hummed thoughtfully.

“Oh my goodness. If we could get him a dark blue one….!” Jeri was muttering excitedly.

“Why do I hang out with you again?” Davis asked rubbing his temples.

After getting harassed by Jeri to wear a maid outfit and from the evil comments that Helena said that egged Jeri on, Davis was finally able to grab DemiVeemon, put him in the Digivice and leave with Helena to the park.

“I hate you so much right now.” Davis growled to the white haired girl.

“I actually found the experience quite enjoyable.” Helena argued as she sat down on the park bench. “I have to thank you Daisuke.”

“Well I certainly…. Wait what?” Davis began but stopped when the words ‘thank you’ passed through his ears.

“I said I have to thank you. Today was enjoyable because you were willing to show me around and take me to places even though I annoy you. So, thank you.” Helena explained with a blush.

“Sheesh. Well your welcome.” Davis sighed as he sat down by the girl. “I would be pretty antsy if I had to sit in a room like that all day.”

“Sooooo….” Helena looked over at Davis hopefully.

“I’ll take you around again. You may be able to meet Marcus and the Digimon next time.” Davis answered.

“Thank you Daisuke!”

Helena smiled as she gave a quick hug to the boy, who blushed at the sudden contact. What was with everyone getting into his bubble today?

“Yeah yeah. But only when I have time too. With you know.” Davis spoke.

“Awww. Daisuke you are so mean.”

“It’s better than not going out at all!” Davis snapped.

Helena crossed her arms and looked away. Davis rolled his eyes as the two began to head back to the Velvet Room. It was getting dark and Davis needed to head home soon. Though the two were fighting Davis could feel the genuine gratitude he was receiving from the girl and that was good enough. He thought it was better to see someone’s true feelings other than fake ones that will eventually hurt him in the end.

_“I am thou…. Thou art I…. Thou hast established a new bond. Thou shalt be blessed when using Digimon of the Chariot Arcana.”_

_“Chariot huh?”_ Davis thought as he parted ways with Helena.

“Hey Dai.” DemiVeemon spoke from the digivice. “I kinda like Helena. She kinda reminds me of you a little. Except less serious.”

“I am nothing like her!” Davis yelled at the Digivice. “I’ll have you know I’m average height. But I know what you mean. She is kinda… ok.”

“Ha! You said you didn’t want to make friends and now you made a ton of them!”

“Don’t make me throw you in the backpack of torture!”

“No not that!”

Davis laughed as he strolled into the house.


	14. Preparing Jeri

“Ugggh. School.” Davis groaned as he walked onto school grounds. “Why do you exist?”

Davis sighed as he pulled out his Digivice and checked the time. (A function he was happy it had) He groaned when he realized he was an hour early. DemiVeemon just had to wake him up early enough to make Akiko breakfast and then rush Davis out so he could cook the rest of it himself. Though he was happy DemiVeemon like his cousin, he needed to be more careful so he doesn’t get caught walking and talking. 

“Woah!” Davis said as he ran into a girl right as soon as he entered school. They both fell down and Davis glared at the girl. She wore the same uniform as Jeri with a shorter skirt and the jacket was left unbuttoned and she wore a purple tie instead of the usual black. She had a crescent moon necklace around her neck and wore a purple beanie hat that had two pointed up points that reminded Davis of cat ears. She had long lavender hair that was waist. Davis noticed the girl was looking him over with unreadable purple eyes.

“You ok.” She whispered and Davis barely was able to hear it.

“Uh yeah.” Davis spoke his glare disappearing as he picked himself back up. He offered his hand over to the girl. “You?”

“Yes. Thank you.” She whispered again and Davis had to lean over to hear.

“Your welcome. Now come on. I’ll help you up.”

The girl nodded as she grasped Davis’s hand and pulled her up. She gave a small blushed, apologized for bumping into him before rushing away down the hall to the classroom next to his. Davis arched a brow before shrugging his shoulders and heading to his class.

He brought his 3ds when he sat down and began to play on it. He really hasn’t gotten the chance since he got here so he was eager to pick up where he left off on his game. Though after thirty minutes Davis grew bored and put the gaming device away, which luckily for him was right when Jeri appeared in the classroom.

“Ah! Davis!” Jeri called as she took the seat by the boy. “I was wondering…”

“About what?” Davis asked. He felt like he knew where this was going.

“Can I borrow your homework from yesterday really quick? The shop was really busy and I was hoping if I could use it.”

“You should learn to do it as soon as you’re done.” Davis smiled as he handed his paper over to Jeri. “If this keeps up I’ll start thinking you’re using me.”

“No!” Jeri pouted as she took the paper and began copying the work. “But I do have to thank you for this Davis. I’m kind of jealous of how you can sleep through class and yet still get the material.”

Davis shrugged his shoulders, “If you want me to tutor you, I have no problem with it.”

“Really? I would really appreciate it!” Jeri cheered.

It went on like that for ten minutes with Jeri copying the work and Davis telling how it worked here and there when Jeri suddenly paused.

“Something wrong?” Davis asked as he looked over Jeri’s work. “You seem to have it down.”

“I was just thinking….” Jeri paused again. “A friend of mine did this with me a lot, though she was properly more patient even when she usually isn’t. She was both strong, smart and cool. Something I wasn’t.”

“Jeri…” Davis began but was interrupted.

“Though she knew I was weak she still cared for me, she treated me like a sister and tried to help me after the D-Reaper incident. My other friends did too. They were all so strong even though it seemed like the world was ending, they held strong and were able to go on.”

Jeri bent her head down.

“I- I want to be someone they can be proud of. Someone they can rely on, like how I relied on them. I know I’m weak, but I want to be able to protect them and be there for them.”

“Jeri.” Davis shifted his eyes away and bit his lower lip. How was he going to comfort her? He wasn’t sure he could even comprehend the emotions going through her right now. He could just imagine Ken or Marcus being able to say the right thing to cheer Jeri up, even if the latter had no clue what he may mean. DemiVeemon or Calumon would be better at this as well. He shifted his gaze back at Jeri who seem to go back to work.

“Then let’s make you strong.” Davis finally said.

“What?” Jeri asked, her head turning quickly at Davis. She didn’t think the boy would actually suggest getting stronger.

“It doesn’t have to be today, but we could go into the world to train. Marcus can fight Digimon and I’m getting the hang of it as well. Maybe we could teach you how to fight against them as well.”

“I-I…” Jeri was at a loss for words. She didn’t know that Marcus could fight Digimon, though now she realized that may be how the boy was really strong, and not to mention Davis was learning to fight as well. “But… I’m not like you boys, I can’t fight Digimon!”

“That’s what I thought at first, but after a while you can really get used to it. I mean the Digimon still fight the bigger guys, but we can at least take down a Rookie or two.”

Jeri thought for a moment. If both Marcus and Davis could do it, she may be able to. They were athletic for sure, but then again she heard from Takato that Rika was able to wound a Harpymon before with just a stick. Yeah she got protected in the end, but it shows that a human can still harm a Digimon.

“Yeah. But I don’t think I could fight them bare handed.” Jeri agreed as she waved her arms for emphasis. “I like to think I’m more on the cute girl side.”

Davis laughed when she said that.

“Hey!”

“Oh so I don’t get to laugh and tease you, but it’s all ok when it’s me?”

“Mayybbee.” Jeri smiled. “But anyway, how about it? Can I get a weapon?”

“Yeah you can but where are you going to get one? They don’t just sell kids weapons.”

Jeri just smiled at that as the teacher walked in.

“Oh no! I’m not done with the homework yet!”

Davis laughed as Jeri scrambled to complete the algebra homework before her. He felt that even though he didn’t completely understand Jeri’s problems, or know all of them for that matter, that he was still getting somewhere and helping the lion pinned girl.

He jumped in surprise when he heard a beep from their digivices. He took a quick look to see that the Strength Social Link has reached level two. He smiled for letting it drop to his chest with a satisfying thud and got ready to take a nap for when the teacher’s boring drawl would begin.

“Why does a place like this exist?” Davis asked once the group had gathered around a weapon shop not too far from Jeri’s house.

“This is a small old town, why wouldn’t it?” Jeri asked.

“Oh. I don’t know. Maybe because people could go around with swords and stab someone to death?” Davis replied sarcastically.

“People don’t really even know this place exists, not even the ones that have lived here their whole lives.”

“I don’t even see why we need to be here.” Marcus muttered.

“Yeah! Why do humans need to buy weapons?” Agumon asked from the digivice.

“I can’t breathe fire silly.” Jeri giggled as she walked into the store, the boys following close behind.

“Hello.” A gruff voice called as the team entered. “What would you like?”

“You really sell weapons here?” Davis asked and the man nodded. “To just anybody?”

“No. I’m not stupid kid. I sell only to people who have proven themselves worthy of having my weapons.” The man scoffed before looking each of the kids in turn. “You!” He pointed to Marcus.

“Yeah?” Marcus asked as if he didn’t care. He probably didn’t. Davis thought. Marcus had complained silently that a real fighter doesn’t need weapons and that they can beat anyone down with their bare fists. Though Davis could agree with some aspects of it, he found it ridiculous to even think of letting someone take on Digimon with just your fists.

“You’ve been in a lot of fights?”

“Yes I have. What of it?” Marcus turned to glare at the man.

“Hmmm.” The man hummed before turning to Jeri. “I’ve seen you around town.”

“You have?” Jeri asked.

“Yeah. You’ve been helping out with chores and other such things right?”

“Yes.”

“And you.” The man gaze settled on Davis. “You’ve also been in a couple of fights yourself.”

“Yeah I have.” Davis bit his lower lip. “Is there any problem with it?”

The man hummed for a bit his gaze flicking between the group of teenagers in his store. They were definitely not like the other kids that came by sometimes hoping to buy a weapon or two. The tallest looked like he didn’t even want a weapon as he looked out the door impatiently. The girl he knew from around town; always helping out when someone would fall down or doing a bit of heavy lifting when helping her parents at the store. The tanned boy was what, in his opinion, the hardest one to read. He stood straight in a polite manner but from the way his body would slouch sometimes, it was a pose the boy didn’t do often. Not to mention he was definitely in a good amount of fights, not as much as the taller boy, and the fact that he may or may not won some of them, if the way he would stiffen when he mentioned it or when his gaze would land on him.

However, the man could tell that from his experience of weapon making and kids coming to buy weapons, that the kids wouldn’t do any harm with it. They were honest with him when he asked when they were in fights and the way they were trying to be polite with him showed that are somewhat trustworthy. Plus the devices boys’ neck and on the girl’s belt felt oddly familiar to him and was what made him nod his head. Plus some business would be nice.

“No problem boy. You can buy whatever you like.” He finally spoke.

Davis sighed in relief as he turned to Jeri who had already began to looking at all the weapons. Marcus of course was waiting at the door ready to get moving to train as soon as their business here was done.

“Hmmm. Davis? What weapon do you think would be best?” Jeri asked.

Davis looked at all the weapons lining the shelves. A lot of them might be too heavy for Jeri as he looked them all over. There was some light weapons here and there but he really didn’t know what would really work for Jeri.

“If you want my opinion….” The shop owner spoke. “I would go with a rapier. It’s light and it can be useful in battle.”

“I think it would be a good idea.” Elecmon whispered from the Digivice. “I have a sword as Leomon, I could teach you how to use it.”

“Um. Then I’ll take a rapier then.” Jeri said as she picked up the weapon and brought it to the counter.

The man nodded as he rang her up and as soon as the sound reached Marcus’s ears he rushed over to them.

“We done?” He asked tapping his foot.

“Yes. Now come on we have some training to do!” Jeri yelled cheerfully. The thanked the man before heading out the door.

“Why aren’t we training in the Digital World?” Agumon whined as the stood on the roof of Jeri’s house. The had gathered some old potato bags filled with potatoes and lined them up in a dummy like fashion so Jeri could practice her sword on it.

“How are we going to sneak a sword in the department store?” Davis asked. “We need to come up with a way to bring it in first before we can take Jeri for training there.”

“He has a point.” Marcus agreed. “Anyways how about we start training?”

“Right. Ready Elecmon?” Jeri asked her partner.

“Of course.” Elecmon answered.

Jeri grabbed her digivice off her belt and pulled a digivolve card from her backpack. She looked at it deep in thought for a moment. She took a deep breath as she finally slid the card down the digivice.

“Digivolution activate!” Jeri whispered and Elecmon began to glow.

He started to stand on two feet as he grew taller. His multiple tails merged into one lion tail and he lost all of the red and blue patterns on his body as he became more caucasian. He became more muscular and know looked like a lion man. He wore blue jeans but no shirt and had a sword was sheathed on the back. He had large feet and hands that had dangerous black claws on his hand and feet. He had a yellow mane coming from his face and stopped just a bit above his chest. He had lion ears as well coming out of his mane. When he opened his eyes the same blue eyes were scanning his new body.

“Leomon.” Jeri gasped. She stepped forward before lunging into her partner’s arms and crying.

“Jeri..” Leomon whispered at the girl.

“I-I really thought you were gone!” Jeri cried.

“Well I’m here now Jeri. So do not cry. You are strong remember?”

Jeri sniffled as she backed away from her partner. She turned her back to the group as she wiped away the tears on her face. She turned back around with a broad smile on her face.

“Anyways. Let’s get to training shall we?”

“Ugh!” Davis groaned as he walked back home. They all decided to train until it was night before they all decided to head home. Now Davis was regretting it since he forgot all about how strict Marcus and Agumon were about training like that. Veemon was lucky he stayed home or otherwise he probably be worn out all day.

_“Wonder how breakfast went with him.”_ Davis wondered.

“Um..” A voice whispered.

_“I hope he didn’t get caught making it for Akiko. Man I should have gone straight home and grabbed him just in case.”_

“Excuse me.”

_“Not that I don’t trust Veemon, it’s just that he can be a little clumsy at times.”_

“Excuse me!” The voice shouted and Davis jumped.

He spun around to find the girl he met earlier this morning looking at him curiously and slightly agitated.

“Hey! You’re the girl I bumped into this morning.” Davis observed. The girl nodded her head before handing him something.

It was his cards. The Digimon cards he used to summon Digimon to the field or teach new moves to Veemon. But how…?

“When we bumped into each other I dropped my things and I had to pick them up quickly and I accidently grabbed this.” She whispered. “I’ve been looking for you as soon as I found them in my backpack.”

“Wait. You’ve been looking all over for me at night as well?” Davis asked shocked. The girl nodded her head. “That’s pretty dangerous you know! I could have been home and you would be wandering around all night. You could have just waited till school tomorrow!”

“Huh. Never thought of that.”

Davis sighed as the girl looked thoughtful at what he just said. She really didn’t think he would be home at this hour? People of Inaba are really weird. He took a look at the girl who was now staring at her feet.

“Anyways. Thanks… uh.”

“Sa…”

“What?”

“Say…”

“I really can’t hear you.”

“It Sayo. Sayo Dusk.” Sayo spoke looking up at Davis. “And you are?”

“Davis Motomiya.”

She nodded her head as if that would help her remember his name.

“Anyways I think I’ll see you at school Motomiya.” Sayo bid farewell as she turned around and walked away.

“Uh. Bye.” Davis waved to the girl as she walked down the street. He waited a few moments to see if the voice in his head would pop up and say they were destined friends or something, but it didn’t. Davis just shrugged his shoulders before walking back to his own home.


	15. DemiVeemon's Day With Akiko

“Now go to school!” DemiVeemon yelled at Davis.

“Then who’s going to finish up Akiko’s breakfast? Plus if I go now I’ll be there way too early!” Davis objected as his partner tried to push him out of the kitchen.

“Yeah, but you walk so slow that you may end up being late!”

“I’m faster than you!”

“Don’t care! I’m going to show you that I can cook!”

Davis arched a brow at DemiVeemon, “Is this all about what I said last night about your cooking?”

“Nooooo.” DemiVeemon puffed his cheeks as he began to push Davis out again.

“Fine! Fine! I’ll just buy some food and eat it on the way or something.” Davis finally relented as he walked over to the door.

“Good!” DemiVeemon smiled in victory as he pushed the egg carton closer to the frying pan.

“But make sure you clean up really well when you’re done!” Davis smiled before rushing out the door.

“Daisuke!” DemiVeemon shouted, but the boy was already out the door and heading to school. “I’ll show him. He won’t say my food is a like a tornado that went through the kitchen ever again once Akiko raves about how good it is.”

….

“This turned out like a tornado.” DemiVeemon cried as he observed the mess that he created from cooking just a simple omelet.

There was eggs were seen all over the counter and on the floor. Butter smears were seen on the counter from where DemiVeemon slipped several times on and landed on his butt. Not to mention the milk was spilt all over the counter and was dripping onto the already ruined floor. Oh and the fact that he spilt orange juice all over the table trying to pour a glass of orange juice. He was able to finally do it but it came at a high price for the table. Luckily the omelet he made miraculously remained untouched by the chaos.

“Daisuke?” Akiko called from upstairs.

DemiVeemon froze when he heard the little girl’s name. If she saw this mess with him standing in the middle of the chaos, what would she think? He had to think fast or otherwise it could spell disaster for him. There was only one option.

_“I’m sorry Daisuke.”_

“Daisuke you down here?” Akiko asked once she reached the kitchen. She gasped once she saw the chaos in the kitchen. “What happened here?”

She looked around the kitchen and found that it was less messy then what her father usually did when he made breakfast. She grabbed a wash cloth and began to wash the mess immediately. She rather not smell like eggs and butter when she made her own breakfast. That is to say if there was any eggs left after what she saw.

Akiko heard a thud from behind her and spun around to see DemiVeemon lying on his side right by some orange juice and omelet. She rushed over to pick up the ‘toy’. A note was right by him and she picked it up to read the sloppy hand writing.

_Dear Akiko:_

_Here I made you some breakfast for you and DemiVeemon!_

_I’m sorry about the mess. I was in a rush._

_So to make it up to you I’ll let you have DemiVeemon to eat breakfast with you!_

_I hope you enjoy it!_

_Love, Daisuke._

“Daisuke made me breakfast? And left a mess?” Akiko questioned. Davis had made her breakfast before but he never left a mess. Something about a good chef never left a mess or something. But if it was important she could imagine him completely running out of the door early.

She looked at DemiVeemon and smiled. It doesn’t really matter though. Her cousin had made her breakfast and let her eat it with DemiVeemon. He usually took the toy everywhere so she rarely got the chance to get a whole day with the toy.

With that in mind she rushed around and grabbed some books around the house, cleaning the kitchen long forgotten. She stacked them on the chairs and set DemiVeemon on the top of the books, taking extra care her cousin’s toy didn’t fall over. She giggled in glee as she took her seat and began to eat the omelet. It wasn’t nearly as good as from Davis’s previous omelet, but she didn’t care as she ate rapidly, chugged her glass of orange juice and put the dishes away. She went over and immediately grabbed DemiVeemon into her arms and squeezed him tightly.

DemiVeemon choked a bit but didn’t blow his cover as the girl let him go and she did a couple of twirls.

“Ok. DemiVeemon. I’ll be right back after I take my bath.” Akiko explained as she set DemiVeemon on the couch in the living room. “So stay right here!”

The girl did little skips as she headed back upstairs to take a shower. DemiVeemon took a deep breath to get back the air he had lost before smiling at the little girl who joyfully went up the stairs. He was relived to find out she bought his lie. Though he was a bit afraid what Davis would do to him if he found out, but he was sure he’ll be fine as long as Akiko was holding on to him.

DemiVeemon waited patiently for the girl dozing off once or twice until she finally bounded down the stairs at surprising speed and scoped him up in her arms. She laughed and played with him. DemiVeemon seeing himself as a gentlemon allowed her to play any kinds of games with him and let even some of the degrading ones fly over his head. Though he’ll never tell Davis that because he would never hear the end of it.

“Oh no.” Akiko frowned as she looked at the clock. “I have to head over to school.”

DemiVeemon watched as the small girl grabbed her bag and look at DemiVeemon lost in thought. Her frown soon turned into a smile as she reached down and grabbed DemiVeemon. The In-Training Digimon was shocked as he felt the small girl place him in her bag. On a side note to him, why does every Motomiya like placing him in backpacks?

“Daisuke did say I could have breakfast with you, and they serve breakfast at school sooo..” Akiko smiled as she gently put her backpack on as to not disturb DemiVeemon before walking out of the house with a happy tune. “Plus I get home before he does so he doesn’t have to know.”

_“Uh oh! What am I going to do about this?”_ DemiVeemon thought in panic. He couldn’t let anybody know he was alive, not even kids!

“Here we are DemiVeemon.” Akiko whispered over her shoulder as she entered school grounds. She gave a quick look around before spotting her best friends sitting by a tree.

“Rin! Kaiyo!” Akiko called as she rushed to her two friends. One of them was a slightly taller girl with curly blond hair that went to her shoulder with red eyes that seemed to light up when she saw Akiko running up. The other was a boy with messy blue hair with bright yellow eyes. He gave a gentle smile as Akiko finally stopped at the tree.

“Hi Aki. How’s it going?” Kaiyo greeted as he stood up from his sitting positon.

“I’m doing great!” Akiko cheered as she set her backpack down.

“Wow. Aki I’ve never seen you so cheerful before? Whatcha do?” Rin smirked as she swung her arm around her best friend. “It’s gotta be good if it’s got you this riled up!”

“You guys have to check this out!” Akiko reached into her backpack.

_“Plush Mode Activate!”_ DemiVeemon thought as Akiko brought out the Digimon and showed it to her friends.

“Woah!” “Would ya look at that!”

The two kids soon crowed around Akiko and took turns holding and looking over the blue lizard. DemiVeemon just acted like a small toy as they pulled his ears or tail and did his best not to snap at them.

“Be careful guys! He isn’t mine! It’s Daisuke’s!” Akiko panicked as she took DemiVeemon back who was thanking the girl infinitely in his head. “He would be so upset if we broke him.”

“Isn’t Daisuke the boy who moved in with you and your pa?” Rin asked.

“Yep! And he lets me play with DemiVeemon lots!”

“Really? My sister never let me play with her stuff.” Kaiyo pouted before smiling at Akiko. “Does he have any more toys to play with?”

“Not that I know of. I only ever see him with DemiVeemon and he usually takes him everywhere. This is the first time I can have him the whole day myself!”

“Really? My big brother says people his age don’t play with toys no more.” Rin pointed out. “So why would this Daisuke fella still play with toys?”

“Maybe because we can play with toys when were older?” Kaiyo guessed with a broad smile. “Maybe Daisuke thinks it’s cool to play with toys as well!”

“Yeah! I bet he does! Maybe he’ll play with me if I ask him!” Akiko smiled. Davis did make breakfast for her all the time and not to mention he did carry DemiVeemon everywhere and did watch closely when she played with the toy. Maybe he wanted to play too!

“Maybe he may want to play house too!” Rin smiled in excitement. “Not even boys our age other than Kai like to play that, but Daisuke already carries his toys everywhere. Maybe for emergency house play!”

The three continued to talk with Akiko still hugging DemiVeemon. DemiVeemon did a sweatdrop from their exciting talk of getting Davis to play games with them. He felt like he just sent his best friend into some kinda of child death trap. Then all of a sudden the bell to school rang.

“Aw!” All three children groaned at once. They got up, put DemiVeemon back into his backpack prison, and headed to class. Akiko bid her friends farewell as they two went into their class and Akiko went into the one just across the hall.

_“Seems like Akiko has a good school life.”_ DemiVeemon thought. _“I wonder why she’s all quiet at home?”_

Soon a thud was heard from outside the backpack and DemiVeemon felt a drop as Akiko was knocked down onto the floor.

“Watch were you’re going!” A girl’s voice growled.

“B-but she was the one that bumped into me...” Akiko whimpered.

“What was that?” Another yelled in surprise. DemiVeemon noted it was a different kid this time. “I can’t believe you would blame Chikyu!”

“Yeah. Are you blaming Chikyu again?” A girl asked.

“N-no. It was my fault. Sorry.” Akiko spoke clearly as if it was mantra she recited every day.

The brown haired girl gave a worried look at Akiko before was grabbed by the students around her and dragged her over to a large group of people. Akiko stood up, dusted herself off and headed over to a corner to sit by herself. The teacher walked in after that and began to address her class for today’s procedures.

Akiko focused on the teacher and began to write her notes that she couldn’t completely understand but did her best to do anyway. DemiVeemon on the other hand, was sitting in Akiko’s backpack completely infuriated at what had just happened to the little girl. What did Akiko do that was so bad? It was Chikyu that bumped into Akiko! And he should know when one person bumped into another. He traveled around in Davis’s backpack all the time and the boy got bumped into by others or it was his own doing. DemiVeemon could bet he already bumped into someone today.

“Ok class break time!” The teacher announced as she walked out of the classroom. The students low whispers from earlier turned into loud chatter.

“Hey DemiVeemon.” Akiko whispered as she gently pulled DemiVeemon out of the backpack and placed him stealthily on her lap. “Sorry about what happened earlier it’s always like this.”

_“Always like this?”_ DemiVeemon thought infuriated.

“It’s not really Chikyu’s fault. I’ve always been the odd one out in this class.” Akiko continued. “I tried being nice to others at first but everyone thought what I did was weird and they said they didn’t want to play with me until I’m not weird anymore.”

She brought DemiVeemon closer into a hug. A small tear hit the top of the Digimon’s head.

“I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what makes me weird to the others, and I can’t talk to Dad about this. I also can’t tell Rin or Kai because maybe they’ll think I’m weird too. And I don’t think Daisuke would want to hear it.”

DemiVeemon wanted to say so many things. He wanted to tell her she doesn’t have to change at all and that Rin and Kaiyo would still accept her. He wanted to tell Davis would listen and would understand. But he couldn’t because if he did he would be discovered and if he was discovered there was the possibility of causing a panic. And if there was panic, he could be sent back to the Digital World while possibly dragging the other Digimon with him and then murders could continue without the Digimon power to stop them.

“I really wish you were real DemiVeemon.”

_“I wish I could too.”_  DemiVeemon thought.

“But I’m just glad I have you right now though. Thanks Demi.”

The teacher had come back after that and class went on as usual. Luckily there was no more confrontations. School soon ended and Akiko was the last to leave class. She talked with Rin and Kaiyo for a bit before heading home by herself.

“Daisuke?” Akiko called out when she entered the house. She let out a sigh of relief when she got no response and set DemiVeemon on the couch. “Good. He would have been so angry if he learned I took you to school.”

DemiVeemon just watched as Akiko went into the kitchen and grabbed some chips. He was so upset to learn of what happened to Akiko daily. He knew bulling was a common problem in the human world, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be upset about it. Akiko walked over with a smile as she sat down and placed DemiVeemon on her lap. She gave him a squeeze before turning on the T.V.

“I’m back!” Davis shouted as he walked inside his house. He stood in front of the couch and quirked a brow. “You comfy there?”

DemiVeemon groaned from where he lay under Akiko. After playing all day and watching T.V late into the night, the young girl finally crashed and fell asleep on the couch right on top of DemiVeemon. And he was like that for the past twenty minutes.

Davis laughed, “Here let me help you.”

Davis picked up the red haired girl and carried her up the stairs. DemiVeemon took this as his chance to catch his breath and lay there as he finally regained feeling in his feet again. Soon his partner was down the stairs again without Akiko in his arms and he sat on the couch by DemiVeemon.

“How was school?” DemiVeemon asked as he leapt onto his partner’s lap. “It must have been horrible without me.”

“Yes DemiVeemon, it was so horrible without you that I went into the restroom and cried for half of the school day.” Davis smirked as he pet DemiVeemon’s head. “But in all seriousness it was just a normal school day. Though I did get to see Elecmon digivolve.”

“What? I missed Leomon!” DemiVeemon howled as he dropped his head and did a fake sob.

“Yeah, you also missed Jeri learning how to use a sword as well.”

“I missed that! Why does all the exciting stuff happen when I’m gone?”

“Hmmm. Maybe if you didn’t force me to go to school early and decided to make breakfast. Anyways how did that go?”

DemiVeemon’s eyes widened in horror and Davis felt the small dragon Digimon shift uncomfortably. His eyes sparked and a smirk appeared on his face as he slid DemiVeemon off his lap and rushed into the kitchen.

“Woah! Out of all your cooking attempts this had got to be the worst yet!”

“Daisuke!”

Davis laughed as he grabbed some paper towels and handed some to DemiVeemon. The two cleaned the floor the counters and the table in an attempt to erase any signs of DemiVeemon’s tornado across the once clean kitchen.

“Hey Daisuke.” DemiVeemon spoke after they finished cleaning and Davis was comfortably laying on his bed ready to fall asleep.

The sleepy boy gave a hum in response as a sign for his partner to continue talking.

“I was hoping that I could spend the day tomorrow with Akiko again.”

“Huh? What brought this on?” Davis opened one eye looking at his partner in curiosity.

“It’s just…” DemiVeemon paused for a second. “I want to make her happy is all.”

“You going to tell me why? Because I know there is a whole other reason other than just because you want to make her happy.”

“I think Akiko should be the one to tell you when she’s ready.”

Davis closed his eye again. DemiVeemon waited patiently as Davis laid there. He was kind of nervous as Davis was known to be a bit shellfish at times when it came to things like this, or can be surprisingly generous if you caught him in the right mood. Not to mention he doesn’t want to tell him exactly why he wants to make Akiko happy about so he may be putting that against him, but he would trust whatever Davis’s judgement will be. Even if he may be against it.

“Fine. You can spend the day with Akiko.” Davis finally responded. DemiVeemon was so prepared for a no that he fell over the bed in shock of Davis actually agreeing to this.

“You serious?” DemiVeemon asked as he leapt back onto the bed.

“Yeah. Though I did wish you would tell me why you want to do this and why Akiko needs to tell me,” Davis sighed as he turned and opened his eyes at DemiVeemon, “I trust you and I’ll wait until either when Akiko is ready or when I’m needed. But don’t expect me not to pester you about from time to time.”

“I honestly would think you weren’t the real Daisuke if you didn’t.” DemiVeemon joked as he crawled underneath the blanket with Davis. “Night Daisuke.”

“Night DemiVeemon.” Davis yawned and closed his eyes. “Just one question. How did you get away with the mess without being caught?”

“I may or may not blamed you for it on a note.”

“DemiVeemon!”

“Ahh!”

“Really?” Akiko gasped in astonishment from what Davis said from across the table. The two were eating breakfast together from what Davis made. It was back to its usual taste but she again didn’t care from what her cousin had just told her.

“Yep. You can take DemiVeemon to school today.” Davis answered.

“I thought you would be mad at me if I took Demi to school!”

“Well I’m not right now since I’m giving you the ok.” Davis smiled as he stood up with his plate and tossed it in the trash can. “So go ahead and run wild with him. Just don’t break him ok?”

“I promise I won’t!” Akiko looked up at Davis with serious eyes. “I swear I won’t!”

Davis laughed and ruffled Akiko’s hair, “Don’t take it so seriously his tough, so don’t think of holding back or anything ok.”

“Ok!” Akiko cheered as she grabbed DemiVeemon, who was left on the table, and twirled in glee.

“Anyways, how about we head to school before the both of us are late.”

“Yep!”

The two walked down the path and Akiko was smiling and laughing in content as she played with DemiVeemon in joy. Davis watched with a smile as he watched DemiVeemon get tossed up once or twice and looking about to hurl at certain moments.

_“That jerk is probably enjoying this.”_ DemiVeemon thought as he sent a glare at the somewhat laughing Davis who just gave him an innocent smile in response as to say that the lizard had it coming.

Soon the two broke off and Akiko was showing DemiVeemon off to her friends again. The two kids were in awe as they each played with the small lizard and then went to class. Lucky for Akiko no one bothered her today and in free time she spent all her time playing with DemiVeemon before Recess was called and she spent it playing a game of saving the world with her friends and with their power the allowed DemiVeemon to become a giant dragon to fend off the evil monsters trying to destroy the world.

DemiVeemon found that game especially funny and ironic at the same time. None the less it looked like he had improved Akiko’s mood today and that was a mission accomplished for him.

“Oh.” Chikyu looked over to where the three colorful haired children were playing. She tilted her head and continued to watch as the pretended to fight off a giant bee monster with the blue lizard toy that Akiko held firmly in her hands. “What are they doing?”

“Pfft. Who cares what that weirdo Akiko does.” One of the girls around Chikyu scoffed. “Anyways why do you care Chikyu?”

“I find the toy they have cute.”

“Huh? That lizard thing?” A boy asked pointing to the lizard Akiko had called out an attack too. Chikyu nodded in response.

“Now that Chikyu mentions it, it is kind of cute.” One girl whispered.

“Do you want it Chikyu?” A boy asked.

“Yes. It is really cute. I wonder where Akiko got one.” Chikyu answered as she looked over at the group again.

“Will get it for you!”

“You will? That is really kind of you.” Chikyu smiled over at the boy before looking back at the group again.

Soon school was over and Akiko broke off from her friends and was skipping happily home. She stopped at the park along the way where a blonde woman was sitting on the bench writing. Two of her classmates had just appeared there with their mothers who went over to the other end of the park to watch their kids and gossip. But mostly gossip.

Akiko made sure she kept her distance from her classmates and settled by a tree. She took out DemiVeemon and smiled.

“You were great today against the giant bug monsters trying to steal all of our sweets.” Akiko smiled as she set DemiVeemon down. “I don’t know if Daisuke will let me play with you tomorrow as well, but I hope he does! Maybe he’d like to play with us one day.”

_“Looks like she’s really happy now.”_ DemiVeemon smiled inwardly until he saw two of Akiko’s male classmates walk up.

“Hey Mochida.” The bigger male sneered as he leaned over Akiko.

“Uh. Hi.” Akiko whispered as she picked up DemiVeemon and scooted back.

“What do you have there?” The small one asked as he reached towards DemiVeemon.

Akiko quickly moved DemiVeemon out of his reach and scooted further back. She was far away from the tree and her things now, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to let them touch DemiVeemon.

The boys frowned and one of them stepped forward again.

“Look Mochida. We’ll let you go easy as long as you hand over the stupid lizard.”

“No!” Akiko snapped. “You can’t have Demi!”

“Ugh! Your so annoying!” The big one stepped forward and snatched DemiVeemon. Before Akiko could react she felt a sharp pain in her face as she was punched by the smaller boy and found herself lying on the ground.

“Why don’t you wise up and just do as we say?” The small one sneered. DemiVeemon watched helplessly as Akiko stood up and rubbed her face where it was bright red and he flinched. That was definitely going to be swollen later.

“Give him back!” Akiko shouted as she leapt forward and grabbed the bigger boy by the arm. She used her free arm to try and reach DemiVeemon.

“Augh!” The bigger boy frowned as he pushed Akiko down to the ground again. He kicked her by the side which sent the blue eyed girl tumbling.

_“Akiko!”_ DemiVeemon shouted in his head. He couldn’t believe this was happening! Why are these two kids being so cruel?

“Sheesh why does Chikyu want this thing so much?” The big one looked at DemiVeemon in disgust. “I hate how she takes so much in Akiko and her little friends.”

The small boy nodded his head as Akiko got back up again. She tried to leap for DemiVeemon again but was punched in the gut by the small boy.

“When we’ll you stop?” The small boy asked.

“I know how to stop her.” The big one smirked as he waved DemiVeemon threateningly. DemiVeemon gulped as the boys both smiled evilly at each other. “I’m sure Chikyu won’t notice if we ruff this one up a bit.”

“No don’t!” Akiko weeped desperately as she was ready to run again but was stopped when the big boy tossed DemiVeemon over to the small boy and he restrained her with his arms.

The boys smiled as the small one tossed DemiVeemon against the tree. DemiVeemon felt his wind leave him as soon as he collided with the tree.

“NO!” Akiko screamed as she struggled against her captor. “Stop it!”

DemiVeemon was picked up again and was yet again thrown against the tree. This process was repeated several times. It didn’t hurt too much to the small Digimon as he had dealt with much worse than being thrown against a tree by a second grader. What did hurt him, was the wails Akiko was giving as the boy time after time threw DemiVeemon against the tree. Her eyes were red from the tears she was shedding and was slightly bleeding from where she was punched. It hurt DemiVeemon to see her like this.

“STOP IT! STOP IT!” Akiko screamed as her thrashing was getting more violent and the boy holding her was looking like he was about to lose it.

“God! Your screaming is hurting my ears!” He growled. He brought a fist up and DemiVeemon finally was about ready to blow his cover when he larger hand caught it.

“Excuse me, but you shouldn’t be doing that.” The blonde woman that was writing in the bench earlier was holding the boy’s hand. Her blue eyes glaring coldly at both the boys.

The small one dropped DemiVeemon to the ground in shock as the woman placed her icy gaze on him.

“You two will be coming with me to your mothers. I’m sure they will want to be hearing what you did.”

The boys looked at each other in worry as the woman called over to their mothers and brought them over. Akiko slumped to the ground once the boy had let go of her and she crawled over to DemiVeemon.

“You ok Demi?” She asked as she picked him up and looked him over. Tears sprung to her eyes a she hugged the little dragon tightly in her arms. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. Oh Daisuke, Demi, I’m so sorry.”

_“No Akiko. Don’t apologize. I should be sorry. I should have protected you instead of fearing of blowing my cover in front of kids that no one would believe.”_ DemiVeemon thought as he looked at the girl who was crying nonstop on him.

“Are you ok?” A soft voice spoke. Akiko looked up at the voice to see the woman from earlier squatting down next to them with soft blue eyes.

Akiko nodded numbly as the woman frowned. She dug through her purse before pulling out some Band-Aids.

“May I?”

Akiko nodded again as the woman pulled out some Neosporin and a cotton ball and began to apply it to Akiko’s bleeding cheek. After she was done she placed a band-aid over where Akiko was bleeding and smiled.

“Is that better?”

“What about Demi?” Akiko asked as she showed DemiVeemon’s face to the woman. DemiVeemon felt a strange of familiarity when looking at the woman’s eyes, as if he had seen them from some place before…

“Of course.” The woman smiled as she began to apply several band-aids on DemiVeemon. The Digimon knew she wasn’t doing it seriously, just to comfort Akiko. “And don’t worry about those bullies. Their mothers are going to punish them real good ok?”

“T-thank you.” Akiko smiled at the nice woman in front of her.

“Don’t mention it. My son used to get bullied all the time when he was little so I know how to deal with problems like these.”

The woman stood up and held out her phone to Akiko.

“Here how about you call your father or other guardian, let them come pick you up.”

“Thank you!” Akiko grabbed the phone and then paused. “I don’t know his number.”

“You don’t know your father’s number?” The woman asked tilting her head.

“Well yes, but I was hoping to call my cousin.” Akiko looked down at the phone beginning to cry at the thought of what Davis would say when he saw DemiVeemon all beat up.

“Hmmm. Does he still go to school? We could always call them. I’m pretty sure I can look up any school number on my phone.”

“Yeah his still in school. Um…. Yaso High I think.”

“Ah! I know that number I have it written down somewhere…” The woman dug through her purse before pulling out a slip of paper. “Here I’ll dial it and you can talk to him ok?”

When Akiko nodded her ok the woman immediately began dialing the number on the paper. She pressed the phone to her ear and waited for a few moments.

“What’s your cousin’s name?” The woman asked.

“Daisuke. Daisuke Motomiya.”

“Motomiya? Uh yes! Hello.” The woman greeted into the ear. “I have a relative of Daisuke Motomiya here…”

“Tell him it’s Akiko!”

“It’s his cousin Akiko.”

_“I hope Daisuke won’t go on a rampage.”_ DemiVeemon thought as the familiar looking woman handed her phone over to Akiko.

“Ah. The sweet sound of freedom.” Davis smiled as the final school bell rang.

“I have to agree.” Jeri stretched her arms. “I can’t wait to get home and groom Elecmon.”

“I am quite looking forward to it myself.” Elecmon agreed from the digivice.

“Daisuke.” The teacher called just as said boy was about to walk out the door.

_“School always has to be cruel.”_ Davis thought as he turned around to see the teacher holding a phone near his ear.

“You have a call down at the office.”

“Huh?” Davis traded glances with Jeri before walking out the door with her.

They soon met up with Marcus and all three of them headed into the office. Once inside the lady at the front desk beckoned Davis over and handed him the phone.

“This is Davis.”

“D-Daisuke?” A sob pushed through the phone and Davis felt his blood turn cold when he heard it. That was Akiko and she was crying!

“Akiko! What’s wrong?” Davis nearly wanted to scream that out but knew better and kept his voice low.

“Daisuke! I’m sorry! Demi and I, and the bullies..” Akiko cried into the phone

“Akiko it’s ok. Just tell me where you are.”

Davis was shocked at how calm his voice sounded even though he was panicking on the inside.

“I-I’m at the park. Near our house.” Akiko sniffled.

“I’m on my way. Stay right there!” Davis hung up the phone, spun around and rushed out the door.

“Dai!””Davis!”

Jeri and Marcus yelled in shock and the boy heard their footsteps following him. He didn’t care though. His mind was completely focused on what he needed to do right now: get to the park and make sure both Akiko and DemiVeemon were safe. He felt his speed picking up as he continued with various thoughts of what may have happened going on his head. If anything happened to either of them he didn’t know what he would do! He knew he only known Akiko for a short time, but she was still family and was at least trying to be nice to him.

He finally reached the park. His heart beating wildly and his lungs were aching. But that didn’t matter to him as he looked around widely for any signs of dark red hair or blue lizard skin. Suddenly he saw where Akiko was; sitting down by a blonde haired woman and holding DemiVeemon in her arms. He came rushing over with aching legs and was soon in front of them.

“Daisuke!” Akiko cried as she stood up but soon fell down again.

“Akiko!” Davis all but shrieked as he sat down by the girl. “What happened?”

“Daisuke. I’m so sorry. Demi got hurt because of me.” Akiko hung her head. Davis looked down at DemiVeemon who was covered in band-aids. His partner looked up at him with sad eyes and shook his head slightly to show he was ok.

“It’s ok Akiko. But what about you?” Davis looked at Akiko’s somewhat bruised face that was swelling on the left and had a band-aid over a cut on it. “Did bullies really do this to you?”

“I’m sorry Daisuke. I got Demi hurt.” Akiko repeated as she cradled DemiVeemon in her arms. Davis eyes softened as he rubbed the girl’s head. She was more worried about DemiVeemon then herself and was worried of how he might feel about it.

“Don’t worry about the bullies.” The woman he saw from before spoke. “I’ve already dealt with them and their parents are quite upset with them.”

Davis turned his gaze up and froze when he saw the blue eyes looking down at him. His seen those eyes from somewhere, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Are you ok?” The woman asked, unfreezing Davis.

“Uh. Yeah, just a little light headed from running all the way here.” Davis lied.

The woman nodded, “Well make sure you and this young girl get plenty of rest.”

She stopped and looked at her phone.

“Oh no! I have a train to catch! You two be careful on your way home!”

With that the woman turned around and ran off. Davis stared after her for a moment before turning back to Akiko. She stopped crying but little sobs can be heard every so often from her lips as she cradled DemiVeemon tightly in her arms.

“Come on Akiko let’s go home.” Davis whispered.

Akiko nodded numbly and tried to stand up, but failed again as she fell on her butt. Davis sighed anger at what sick twisted bully really thought this was ok. He bent down, scoped Akiko up in his arms princess style and began to walk home.

“I’m so sorry Daisuke.” Akiko whispered.

“Stop saying that, I’m not angry or disappointed in you. And I’m sure DemiVeemon isn’t either ok?”

“You’re not mad?” Akiko looked up at Davis with teary eyes.

Davis shook his head, “Of course not. Why would I be mad if you got hurt from bullies?”

“Because DemiVeemon got hurt.”

“Don’t worry about him. His tougher then he looks not to mention I’ll make sure he is better than ok by tomorrow.”

“Daisuke…” Akiko whispered as she held DemiVeemon closer to her chest and fell asleep in Davis’s arms.

“There you are!” Marcus called out. Davis snapped his head up to see Marcus and Jeri rushing up to him. Marcus stopped right in front of Davis and his eyes widened then slipped into an angry glare. “What happened?”

Davis was shocked to hear such anger in Marcus’s voice but went on to explain the current situation, with DemiVeemon’s help, to both Marcus and Jeri.

“That’s horrible!” Jeri gasped in shock.

“Why would humans do that?” Calumon whispered from Jeri’s digivice.

Davis was shocked too as he hadn’t heard the entire story until DemiVeemon had interjected and added his side in.

“Tch. Boys thinking they can pick on a defenseless girl just so they could get a toy.” Marcus scoffed. “Though I guess it’s not the entire kids’ fault. Their parents are somewhat to blame for letting their kids do something like that.”

“What are we going to do Boss?” Agumon asked from the Digivice.

“I think we should let Davis decide this. It’s his family here.”

Everyone turned there gazes to Davis who was staring wide eyed at them. He hadn’t expected this but he shook his head and went back to the original point.

“We should head to my house for now and set her in her bed. I’ll have Jeri inspect the wounds, the Digimon could all look for medical supplies and act like toys for Akiko and Marcus and I can cook up some dinner.” Davis paused before looking up at the long haired boy. “Assuming you can cook.”

“Don’t worry I know a thing or two about cooking.” Marcus gave a cocky smirk. “I’ll cook up something you wouldn’t believe.”

Davis returned the same smirk, “Oh we’ll see if it can stand up to mine.”

“Um. The human girl?” Elecmon called.

“Right! Let’s go.” Jeri nodded as everyone started jogging with Davis in the lead.

Soon the entire group was back at Davis house and doing everything they were assigned to do. Davis and Marcus were in the kitchen arguing what to make. The Digimon had gone around the house to find its medical supplies and delivered them to Jeri. So now they were relaxing on the couch with contented sighs and gossiping about the food being cooked. And Jeri was looking over Akiko in the latter’s room. The older girl check for an injuries and, even though she was no doctor, applied some necessary things here and there.

“Mind taking over?” Davis asked as he stopped stirring the stew for a moment. Marcus nodded in response, not taking his eyes of cutting the vegetables below him.

Davis thanked him before walking over to the group of Digimon. He spotted DemiVeemon, the usually friendly Digimon, sitting there nodding every so often at what the others were saying. Davis squat down by his partner.

“You ok?” Davis asked. DemiVeemon jumped from where he sat and gave Davis and scared look before relaxing. “That lost in thought?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be? I failed to protect her Dai. I failed to keep her safe even though I could have stopped those bullies right then and there.” DemiVeemon whispered. He looked down. “If I wasn’t so afraid of exposing myself…”

“Don’t beat yourself over it.” Davis reassured. “I mean I can see where you’re coming from, but if you exposed yourself a lot of other bad things could have happened after that.”

“But…”

“DemiVeemon if you exposed yourself who knows what could have happened.” Elecmon spoke up. The boys turned their heads to the group of Digimon who were listening in on their conversation. “Plus I know if it went too far you would have jumped in before anything really bad could have happened to that girl.”

“Yeah. Plus you mentioned that she gets bullied right?” Agumon asked and DemiVeemon nodded. “Wouldn’t she get bullied even more for having a monster as a pet?”

“His right.” Marcus spoke as he walked over wiping his hands. “We had this one DATS mission one time where a kid was getting bullied for having a Digimon. The bullying could have gotten worse. Though I’m not saying you should let it happen, because sometimes you have to step in.”

“I’m sorry.” DemiVeemon spoke looking down. “I just really feel bad about it.”

“It’s ok to feel bad.” Davis spoke. “It shows that you care. We won’t tell you to get over it, but we’ll let you know that it wasn’t the worst thing that could happen.”

DemiVeemon smiled up at his partner and nodded, “Ok. Just need to be by myself for a while.”

Davis nodded as he and Marcus went back to the kitchen to put the final touches on the stew.

“Akiko’s up!” Jeri called as she walked down the stairs.

“I think you’ll be cooking the entire thing Marcus.” Davis smiled before bounding out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

“Daisuke!” Akiko called as she got off her bed and walked over to her cousin. “Who was that girl that was in here?”

Davis laughed and he ruffled Akiko’s hair, “That was Jeri, she’s a friend of mine. Another one, named Marcus, is also here. They both helped me out while you were asleep.”

“Friends of yours?” Akiko mumbled and then nodded. “Ok. Jeri and Marcus. I’ll remember that.”

Davis led Akiko down the stair slowly. Though her wounds weren’t too bad he rather not push the little girl if he didn’t have to. Jeri helping Marcus set the table and smiled when she saw Akiko and Davis.

“Hi! Akiko. How are you feeling?” Marcus asked as he crouched down to Akiko’s level. Davis was shocked to see how gentle the boy’s voice was, but then remembered Marcus has a little sister.

“I’m better thanks.” Akiko blushed as the boy smiled before he got back up and headed to the kitchen to get the food.

“Hey Akiko.” Jeri spoke now and the small girl turned to her now. “Since you were hurt Marcus and I brought over our toys so you can play with them.”

“You have toys too?” Akiko asked as she looked around. Her eyes landed on the Digimon in the living room and she rushed over to them. “Wow! This one’s so big! And this one is fluffy! Oh, oh! And this one has really big ears!”

Jeri laughed as she joined over with Akiko to play with the ‘toys’. Davis sent a look over to Marcus and the boy nodded his head letting Davis know he has dinner under control. Davis thanked him before walking over and joining in on the fun.

“Bye! Thank you for the meal and letting me play with Agu, Calu and Elly!” Akiko thanked.

“No problem. We should do it again sometime.” Jeri smiled as she picked up both Elecmon and Calumon in her hands.

“Yeah. Ugh. We should do it again.” Marcus groaned as he picked up Agumon on his back. The yellow Digimon looked quite satisfied from where he sat on his boss’s shoulders.

“Yeah!” Akiko smiled happily as the two walked out the door before yawning.

“Ok. Time for bed.” Davis smiled as he picked Akiko up and brought her to her room. “And don’t worry about school tomorrow. I’ve already dealt with it.”

“Thank you Daisuke.” Akiko smiled as she was put on her bed. “Your friends were really great.”

“Yeah they are, aren’t they?” Davis smiled to himself as he headed to the door.

“Hey Daisuke?” Akiko called as Davis turned off the light.

“Hmm?”

“I love you!”

Davis blushed at what the girl spoke but he smiled right back at her with the smile that he thought he lost a long time ago.

“Love you too, Aki.”

With that Davis walked out the door and closed it. He had a happy smile on his face and his blush had disappeared as he walked down the stairs. It made him really happy to hear that from his cousin, especially since he thought she didn’t like him at first.

_“I am thou… thou art I… Thou hast established a new bond. Thou shalt be blessed when using Digimon of the Hermit Arcana.”_

Davis smiled when the unfamiliar familiar voice spoke that he established a bond with his cousin. He practically skipped over to DemiVeemon and gave him a grin.

“Well, well. Looks like someone is happy.” DemiVeemon gave him a small smirk.

Davis rolled his eyes, “Come on. Let’s get to bed and rest. You definitely need it after today.”

“Yeah. Hey it may be better to not let Akiko take me to school for a while.”

“Yeah I know.” Davis grabbed his partner. “But I think we should think more about this tomorrow.”

 

 

“I’m home!” Mrs. Takaishi yelled as she took walked inside her house.

“Your home really late mom.” A boy’s voice called from the kitchen. “I had to eat the dinner cold after waiting for so long.”

“Sorry hun.” Mrs. Takaishi kissed her son’s forehead as she walked by the boy doing the dishes. “Something came up while at work and it made me miss my train.”

“Yeah I figured.”

“Anyways I was thinking on moving…”

“What?” The blonde boy asked as he turned and looked at his mother with wide eyes.

Mrs. Takaishi sighed, “I knew you would react like that. Don’t worries it's not a permanent move. Just long enough for me to follow the story going on about the mysterious murders and kidnappings happening in a small town. So don’t worry about being separated from your friends for long.”

The boy sighed in relief as he continued to wash the dishes. His mother was a reporter so it wasn’t rare for her to go out of town once in a while, but a move was really rare.

“I already found a house there that will be perfect to live in while I do my story. But if it keeps going on we will be staying longer.”

“I see. Where are we moving? You keep on talking about this story, but I haven’t heard where it was at.”

“Oh. I didn’t say?” Mrs. Takaishi hummed. “You won’t believe it when I tell you where it’s at. You probably never even heard of this town. It’s called Inaba.”

That was when the boy dropped a dish in the sink.

“T.K? What was that?”

“Nothing! Just dropped a dish.” T.K lied as he cleaned up the shattered dish.

“You need to be more careful.” Mrs. Takaishi scolded. “Anyways. I heard of a name I think you talked about before. Though I didn’t recognize the first name. Does Motomiya sound familiar to you?”

T.K dropped the shattered pieces breaking them even more then he already had.

“Takeru!”

“Sorry! Being really clumsy tonight!” T.K lied again as he finally threw all the pieces away before they could be broken yet again. “Anyways when are we going?”

“In a couple of days. So you better start packing. I’ll clean the dishes. I don’t want you breaking anymore.” Mrs. Takaishi shoed her son out of the kitchen and the blue eyed boy rushed inside of his room.

He closed the door and leaned against it. The news sinking into his head. He couldn’t believe he would be heading all the way to Inaba.

“Davis…. What is he going to think?” T.K mumbled before dragging out a suitcase from his closet and beginning his packing. “Guess I’ll find out when we get there.”


	16. What We Need To Do

“It’s raining again.” Davis observed as he looked out the window that morning.

“It’s been ten days since the last rain.” Akiko pointed out as she finished her breakfast and put her plate in the sink. “I’m glad theirs no school today or I would have to stay inside for recess.”

“Ten days?” Davis asked.

“Yep. I make sure to count so that way I would know if I should miss the rain or not.” Akiko smiled as she walked over to the window. “And ten days mean I miss the rain.”

Davis laughed as he ruffled Akiko’s hair. It was cute and funny how a little kid thinks you can count the days it takes to miss a person. But ten days. That’s what the e-mail said how long they had to save Jeri. He has been checking it every night after they saved Jeri in case the murderer wanted to say something about it, but it never came. Maybe it would change since it’s been ten days?

“Hey Aki I’m going out to see my friends. Can I leave you in charge of the house while I’m gone?” Davis asked in the most commander like tone he could do. Akiko faced Davis and saluted him.

“I promise to keep an eye on the house and not let any strangers inside the house.” Akiko responded soldier like.

Davis saluted back before grabbing DemiVeemon, his umbrella and heading outside.

“Where we going?” DemiVeemon asked as he was placed inside Davis’s digivice.

“I was thinking of heading over to Jeri’s so we can talk about the case. It’s been ten days since the e-mail and that was the time limit it gave us. I just wanted everyone to keep an eye on it to see if anything new has happened.” Davis answered as they walked down the rainy street.

“I see. I guess it would also be good to check on Jeri in case any shady things were pulled.” DemiVeemon agreed.

“Welcome Davis!” Mr. Katou greeted when Davis walked in.

“Hi Mr. Katou!” Davis thanked before walking over and up the stairs.

“Dai!” Calumon cheered as the small white Digimon flew over to Davis and landed on the boy’s face. “Hi.”

“Nice to see you too Calumon.” DemiVeemon huffed as he popped out of the digivice.

Calumon fell down and landed on top of DemiVeemon. The latter gave a yelp before going into a wrestling match with Calumon. Calumon was easily crushed.

“Ah! I give! I give!” Calumon wheezed from under DemiVeemon.

Davis laughed as he picked the two Digimon up in his arms, “Yo Calumon. Where are the others?”

“It’s Sunday so they both should probably be working.” Calumon answered after taking a few gulps of air.

“Huh. Then I guess we have to wait for them. Not like we have anything else to do.” DemiVeemon shrugged his shoulders.

Calumon leaped out of Davis’s arms and led the boy all the way to Marcus’s room. Agumon was sleeping on the bed giving off loud snores. It was pretty basic, like a guest room most houses have. Though there was some food wrappers on the floor, which Davis automatically assumed were from Agumon’s late night snacking. Davis took a seat right by the giant lizard and leaned back.

“Man. Who knows how long those two would be working.” Davis groaned.

“I know!” Calumon cheered as he flew up to Davis. “How about a game?”

“A game?” DemiVeemon asked before smiling. “Yeah! A game sounds like fun!”

“What game?” Davis asked.

“Umm. I don’t know what it’s called but it’s where you kick a ball right into this net and everyone then cheers!” Calumon explained.

“Soccer!” Davis exclaimed jumping off the bed with excitement.

“Yeah! That’s the one!” Calumon smiled as he rushed out really quickly and came back just as quickly with the familiar black and white ball.

“Let’s do it!” DemiVeemon cheered and soon the three were out in the hallway.

Soon a game between Davis and the Digimon began. They designated the two ends of the hall way the goals. Davis had to teach Calumon the proper rules several times when the Digimon had called out rules like hopping like Frogmon when he crossed the door. Even though it soon devolved into the game Calumon was talking about.

“Woah!” DemiVeemon cried as he fell over from his handstand. “This game is so hard.”

“I’ll say.” Davis groaned as he fell over from his own handstand. “Should have took gymnastics if when I was a kid.”

“Does that mean I win?’ Calumon asked as he floated upside down.

“No! You’re floating! Not doing handstands!” DemiVeemon called angrily.

“I can do a handstand!” Calumon puffed his cheeks as he floated down, shrunk his ears and pressed his hands to the ground.

He immediately fell over.

“Would you look at that?” Davis smirked.

“Ah man.” Calumon whined. “I thought Terriermon finally taught me how to do a handstand.”

“You had other Digimon pals too right?” DemiVeemon asked.

Calumon nodded, “Yeah. We used to do a lot of this kind of stuff like this in the human world and when we went back we continued to stick together and play games like this even though the Digital World was in a mess.”

Calumon paused before continuing on.

“We protected each other in the South Section. Well they protected me. I can’t really fight. You guys protect me as well and…. I just wish I could protect you guys as well.” Calumon turned onto his back and stared at the ceiling. “I wonder if they are wondering where I am. Impmon must be really angry at me.”

Davis and DemiVeemon exchanged glances. The carefree Calumon even had his own problems. Davis did a small roll and was on his back by Calumon.

“Hey. You helped us a lot back during our first fight with Boogeymon. And I’m sure you protected your friends once or twice yourself. So don’t worry.” Davis spoke.

“Yeah. I also bet they miss you a whole bunch!” DemiVeemon smiled.

“Yeah! Thanks guys!” Calumon cheered. “I’m sure your friends back in Odaiba miss you as well.”

Davis flinched slightly at that. He really didn’t believe Calumon’s words but he smiled, laughed and agreed with him anyways. He didn’t want to worry the little white Digimon not to mention he was scared that the small white Digimon might try to fly all the way over there to fight them or something ridiculous that he could believe the little white Digimon doing.

_“I am thou… Thou art I. Thou hast established a new bond. Thou shalt be blessed when using Digimon of the Star Arcana.”_

“Davis?” Jeri asked. Davis turned his head over to the stairs to see his friend standing there in her usual maid outfit. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to talk about the case a bit with you and Marcus.” Davis answered.

“Ah. I just got off work and I think Marcus did too. I’ll go get him really quick.” Jeri rushed down the stairs after that. Davis shrugged his shoulders and went inside Marcus’s room. After a couple of minutes Jeri, Marcus and Elecmon entered the room back in usual attire.

“Ok. Anything new you dug up Dai?” Marcus asked.

“Nothing in particular but it’s about the Midnight E-mail.” Davis answered as he turned to look at Jeri. “The last mail we got was when you were sent into the Digital World and it said we had a time limit. Today is the last day so I partly making sure you were ok.”

Jeri shook her head, “No. I’ve been completely fine. And I haven’t seen anyone suspicious in the store all day.”

“So nothing shady gets pulled on the last day?” Agumon asked sleepily.

“I wouldn’t say that. Just may be trying to trick us for the possible next victim.” DemiVeemon objected.

“So you think there may be another human captured?” Elecmon asked. “What purpose for whoever’s doing this, have?”

“Their doesn’t need to be a reason.” Davis spoke. “As long as the person finds it fun, and they are crazy enough, they may keep doing it. Especially since the police don’t have leads on them. We don’t have any leads on them. So as long as it’s safe they won’t even consider stopping.”

“What kind of person would do that? Don’t they know they are killing people?” Jeri asked horrified.

“Probably does, and they don’t care.” Marcus scoffed. “It makes them feel tough, like they have the power of a god. Power corrupts people and they don’t care about anyone anymore once it does ruin them.”

“The same could be said for Digimon.” Elecmon scowled. “Once power grips them, they think they are have the right to decide who lives and dies. Not all Digimon in power believe this, but many of them do.”

Davis nodded his head. He remembered that Ken, his best friend and probably one of the nicest people in the world, was corrupted by power himself by the dark spore in his neck. He was then further influenced by it when he was told he could rule the Digital World with that power. And by the faces Marcus, Elecmon and Agumon were giving they have met people who were probably the same way.

Jeri’s eyes went to Elecmon, who was sitting on her lap. Her eyes came back up and she looked at each person in the room. Her gaze unwavering with determination set in her eyes.

“We’ll save them all though. We’ll go in as many times as it takes to save the people who have been caught in the killers trap. We won’t let anyone die.” Her voice was firm. A lot different from the one Davis first heard her use. “I don’t want anyone to die when we can do something about it.”

“Of course we’ll stop’em!” Marcus cheered as he hopped of the bed. “Agumon and I wouldn’t be good DATS agents if we didn’t!”

“Right!” Agumon agreed.

“You know I’ll be with you Jeri.” Calumon agreed as he flew on top of the girl’s head.

“Thank you Calumon.” Jeri smiled faintly before turning to Davis. “Are you up to it Davis?”

Davis exchanged glances with DemiVeemon. His partner gave him a smile before Davis turned his attention back to the others.

“Of course! I mean what would you guys do without me?” Davis smirked.

“Oh is that what you think?” Marcus asked as he crept closer. “We’ll see how you fair with this!”

Marcus lunged forward and before Davis could react, had head locked the former goggle head. Davis struggled against the older boy’s arms but found it futile to escape the boy’s grasp. Marcus laughed as Davis tried once again to escape the boy’s arms before letting go and ruffling Davis’s already messy hair.

“My turn!” Agumon yelled.

“Nope!” Davis yelped as he dodged the yellow dinosaur’s dive. He quickly picked up DemiVeemon and launched him at Agumon.

“Daisuke you traitor!” DemiVeemon yelled as flew and landed in Agumon’s arms. The dinosaur put DemiVeemon in a head lock and kept him there as the smaller blue lizard tried to squirm out.

Everyone laughed as it soon became a fight to not get head locked by Agumon. Davis laughed once when both Calumon and DemiVeemon got caught by the giant lizard, which soon evolved into a dog pile on the dinosaur with, miraculously, DemiVeemon and Calumon on top. Davis felt his digivice beep and checked it when everyone rolled off the dinosaur. The Fool Social Link had grown to level three.

“Hey Davis. It’s getting dark. You may want to head back soon.” Jeri said as she took a look at her watch.

“Ah. Really?” Davis sighed as he stood up and picked up DemiVeemon. “Well I guess we should head out then.”

“Don’t forget to check the Midnight E-mail!” Agumon shouted.

“We’re the ones that came here to tell you that!” DemiVeemon shouted back. Davis laughed as the two finally exited the room.

“Hi Daisuke!” Akiko greeted when Davis entered the house. “How was your day?”

“It was good. How about yours Akiko?” Davis asked.

“It was great! The new episode of Phoenix Feather Man R was fantastic!” Akiko cheered. She went on about the show with Davis listening intently before she gave a yawn.

“Ok. You head on to bed ok.”

“Ok!” Akiko smiled before rushing inside her room. “The sooner I go to bed the sooner I can talk about how the Red Falcon’s new spinning sword attack with Kai and Rin tomorrow!”

“You do that!” Davis laughed. He checked his watch to see it read 10:00 p.m. Two hours till midnight. “We still have time. What do you want to do?”

“I’m really interested in Phoenix Feather Man R now.” DemiVeemon answered.

“Then let’s go watch it!”

“For a kids show, it’s pretty intense.” Davis said as he finished their fourth episode of PFMR (Phoenix Feather Man R).

“I’ll say!” DemiVeemon awed as the ending song finished. “We should watch it with Akiko sometime.”

“Yeah.” Davis agreed when a beep sounded from the computer.

Davis leapt immediately to it and opened it. It was the same as the others. No words, just a video. He gulped as he clicked on the video. He knew Marcus and the other were there to protect Jeri, but he still felt uneasy about it.

Soon the video started. It gave off blue static and made a small buzzing noise that quickly got annoying. Davis was just about to click out of the video satisfied that Jeri wasn’t looking like she was dying like the other girl, when the blue static went black and the buzzing stopped. Fuzzy yellow words appeared on the screen. They read:

_Congratulations!_

_You saved the girl in time,_

_And much before the time limit was up._

_Though are you still tempted to help others,_

_Knowing fully well how dangerous that place is?_

_Will you save the next one that falls here?_

_Or will you finally stop playing hero and let them die?_

_Will you_

_M.D,_

_Jeri Katou_

_And D.M_

_Be willing to save them?_

_To keep meddling in the Digital World?_

_I can’t wait to see your answer._

The video ended after that. Davis stared at the screen in shock. He was congratulating them for saving Jeri? Not to mention he couldn’t wait for them to do something again from the looks of it. It really was a game to the sicko behind all of this! Davis sighed as he replayed the video. What did the killer mean that they were being selfish in wanting to save people? It was the killer that was being selfish here, not them!

“I really hate this human.” DemiVeemon spoke in disgust. Looks like he saw that the killer saw this as a game as well.

“They really does think this is a game.” Davis growled. “They think ending a life is some hobby or something. How could anyone ever think of that?”

“Daisuke.” DemiVeemon whispered.

“I know what you’re going to say, but I don’t want to call them DemiVeemon.”

“I know. But I just want to make sure you think it’s a wise idea.”

“It’s not just from an emotional point of view DemiVeemon.” Davis sighed as DemiVeemon gave him a disbelieving look. “I mean it has a lot to do with that, but think about it. We can’t guarantee that their partners will be there. You arrived in that place a night before I did, not to mention that we may be lucky with that. Marcus and Agumon were together in the Digital World when they somehow entered in there. Calumon doesn’t have a partner if we don’t count Jeri, and Elecmon’s data was in Jeri’s digivice so he was technically with her the entire time. The others don’t have that luxury, we can’t guarantee that their partners will show up like we did for each other.”

“I guess your right about that.” DemiVeemon muttered an agreement before speaking louder, “Is that why Marcus and Jeri aren’t calling their friends?”

“Yeah. Not to mention they live pretty far away and they all can’t bunk at Jeri’s place and I don’t think Mochida would like if I just had twelve people over until we settle this.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“So we have to do this by ourselves, without help from the others back in Odaiba.” Davis nodded to affirm this.

“But if worst comes to worst, you call at least Ken right?” DemiVeemon asked.

“Yeah. I will DemiVeemon.” Davis petted his best friend’s head in reassurance. _“If I can even reach him.”_

“How about we get to bed and talk about this with the others tomorrow at school?”

Davis yawned in agreement as he set his laptop over to the table on the side. He pulled the blanket over him a DemiVeemon. He soon felt his eyelids fall and his conscience soon fall into the black.

As soon as he heard Davis start snoring, DemiVeemon wiggled out of the blanket and standing up. He quietly tip-toed over to the table with Davis’s laptop. He hopped over, nearly falling over and regaining his balancing, before rushing over to the blue device. He opened it up and went to Davis’s e-mail. He went to the spam and found exactly what he was looking for. A new e-mail. He clicked it and gasped at its contents.

_“Daisuke is not going to be happy about this.”_ DemiVeemon thought as he closed the laptop and went back over to Davis’s bed. _“I hope things don’t get to violent.”_


	17. Koh's Problems and an Arrival of a Familiar Face

“Davis!” Koh greeted cheerfully as Davis stepped onto the school grounds. “You coming to soccer practice today?”

“Hmm? Yeah. I was planning to anyway.” Davis answered.

“Great! See you there!” Koh smiled before running into his classroom.

 _“Wonder why his so excited.”_ Davis thought before entering his own classroom.

“You’re part of the soccer team?” Jeri asked after class. She shook her head, “Never mind you were part of the soccer team in the show.”

“Yeah so I’m heading to practice today. I was hoping that we could talk about the e-mail after that.” Davis spoke. Sudden anger rushing up at the entire thought of what the e-mail said and from the look on Jeri’s, she was angry at the thought of it too.

“Ok. I think it would be a good idea anyway so Marcus can calm down.”

“What did he do?”

“He broke the desk in his room by punching it.”

“That… sounds kind of like him.” Davis murmured before he spoke up again, “Hey can you take DemiVeemon with you? He may not like being stuck in my backpack all day.”

“You know it.” DemiVeemon said. “Please save me Jeri and Elecmon!”

Jeri laughed as Davis handed the backpack over to her. She picked up DemiVeemon and with a cheer DemiVeemon hugged the girl. They both waved to Davis before leaving the classroom to meet up with Marcus. Davis laughed before walking outside himself and heading to the soccer field.

“Ok. Team let’s get started!” The coach yelled. The soccer team had separated into two teams and had begun to go against each other. Davis understood immediately why Koh was so excited now, because the two of them were put on separate teams. Davis on the blue team and Koh on the orange team.

“Ok let’s go!” Koh launched forward and took the ball. He weaved around some of Davis’s teammates and kicked the ball at the goal. Luckily for Davis’s team the goalie was able to block the ball in time.

“Oh boy. Here he goes again.” A teammate muttered.

 _“Huh?”_ Davis thought but soon found himself occupied with Koh stealing a ball from a teammate and heading back to the goal.

Davis was able to skillfully get to Koh in time and steal the ball back before rushing over to the goal. He soon found himself surrounded by Koh’s teammates and he found he had a small chance to get through them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of his teammates waving to him. He saw that his teammate had a clear shot to the goal and, making sure he was open, passed the ball over to him. The teammate gave thankful smile before giving a final kick to the goal. The goalie was caught off guard when he saw the ball pass right by him.

“Come on guys! Let’s show them whose boss.” Koh shouted. His teammates glared at him before going back to the game.

Davis watched closely between as the balls switched between teams. His team had become a well-oiled machine as Davis found out easily what each person was best at and immediately put them in those positions. They were passing each other when they saw a teammate in a better position and were following the plan Davis had laid out when Koh called for a break.

Koh’s team on the other hand had become a complete mess. The teammates were having a tough time passing to each other and all of them were in positions that did not fit their talents. Koh was hogging the ball, and though he was a great player, didn’t stand a chance when an entire team was up against him. Not to mention when Koh had a completely great position to score a goal, his teammates refused to give him the ball and pass it to the less optimal player.

“Ok! Game!” The coach called once Davis’s striker scored the final goal. “Winner is the blue team! That’s all for today. Head home guys.”

With that the coach turned around and headed inside the school building.

“Yeah!” “We did it!” “Man Motomiya I thought you would be a glory hog!” “Woo hoo!”

Davis smiled at the success of his team. He heard some compliments from the team mates and apologies from insulting him before and he just blushed it off. Or yelled at them when they told him about the insults. He turned his gaze over to Koh’s team to see that they looked far from happy. Many of them glaring at Koh or yelling at him for being a ball hog. Davis was about to step forward when Koh just turned his back and walked away from the entire group.

“Koh!” Davis shouted, rushing over. His gaze caught their backpacks on the bench and he quickly grabbed them before running after the boy.

Davis huffed as he continued his search. He had already called Jeri and said that he would need to reschedule their group meeting. He huffed as he kept his eyes opened for any sight of his ginger friend. He was just walking! How could Davis lose him? He had checked the entire school grounds and checked half the shopping district. Finally he stopped in front of Jeri’s house before realization hit him.

“Koh!” Davis shouted once he entered the building. Mr. Katou gave him a weirded out look before pointing over to one of the tables. He didn’t think he had the right to question Davis’s worried yelling.

Davis followed the finger to find ginger hair sitting alone at one of the tables. The head had turned slowly up at the sound of his name. Koh gave a weary smile when he saw Davis. Davis glared at the boy as he stomped over and threw the other boy’s backpack at him.

“Ow! Davis what was that for?” Koh moaned as he rubbed his face from where the backpack hit him.

“I’ve been looking all over for you!” Davis growled as he sat down across from Koh. “What happened? Why did you suddenly leave?”

“Oh that? Just hungry.” Koh laughed weakly. Davis narrowed his eyes. Koh was lying and he knew it.

“Tell me the real reason.” Davis demanded.

Koh looked away for a moment, “I’m telling the truth.”

“You are a really bad liar.”

“What?” Koh gasped as he nearly fell back in his chair. “I’m a bad liar?”

Davis rolled his eyes, “Big time, now tell me what’s wrong and don’t change the subject again.”

“Your pushy you know that?” Koh sighed.

“I’ve been told that a lot.”

“So you really won’t give up on this? Fine I’ll tell you.” Koh relinquished. “You see I’ve always been that kid that never really got along with anyone.”

Koh looked uncertainly at Davis. Davis nodded his head at the ginger, signifying for him to continue. Davis may not be could at comforting and may have trouble listening at times, but he could definitely listened when it counted.

“I was born and raised in Inaba, didn’t move here like you, but I always acted different from the other kids. You see my family is seen as distinguished.”

“Distinguished?” Davis asked.

“Yeah. The Dawn family is one of the few families that helped make this town.” Koh explained, “We are one of the oldest families here.”

“Ok.”

“So everyone knows about my family and how special we are. Not to mention everyone in the Dawn family is always a protégé in something.” Koh continued. “So of course people get jealous. The kids would look at me and think or talk behind my back saying, ‘He is a spoiled brat.’, ‘Just because his a Dawn he thinks he can lead the soccer team.’” Koh sighed before continuing. “All my life I’ve either been pushed away by others because of jealously or because they only saw me as another Dawn and that they shouldn’t talk to me out of respect.”

“So that’s why you walked off?” Davis asked.

“A part of it yeah.” Koh whispered. “Hey Davis? Can we not talk about this anymore?”

Davis opened his mouth and say that Koh needed to tell him about this, until he saw the pained look on Koh’s face and he immediately shut it and nodded in agreement. Davis understood what it was like to be alienated by others or to be talked about behind his back and he knew sometimes it’s best to leave that person alone because they need to sort their feelings out or get back together after it.

“Ok I’ll stop hounding you for now. But understand one thing.” Davis leaned forward in the chair and looked Koh right in the eyes. “That I’m here for you and you can tell me anything. Not to mention that if it starts you eating you badly enough we will come back to this conversation.”

Koh smiled, “Thanks Davis. Means a lot to me.”

Davis smiled back. Koh needed someone right now to talk to about this or to just be there. Davis knew it and he would stay with Koh for as long as it takes to make the boy finally feel accepted.

Davis heard his Digivice beep and he took a peek at it quickly to read that the Sun Social Link had reached level 3.

“Anyways.” Koh spoke making Davis snap his head up. “How about we get something to eat. I really am hungry.”

“Yeah.” Davis smiled.

“And Davis.”

“Hmmm?”

“Thanks for coming after me.”

“Davis!” Jeri called after Koh had left. Davis said he was going to stay behind to wait for a friend that he contacted earlier. He was of course talking about DemiVeemon.

“Daisuke you abandoned me.” DemiVeemon cried as Davis walked over to the girl and blue lizard standing by the stairs.

“Sorry. I had a really important matter to deal with.” Davis apologized as he picked up DemiVeemon.

“Like what?” Calumon asked.

“Just had to help a friend out.”

“Was it Koh?” Jeri asked.

“Uh.. Yeah.” Davis said in shock. “Do you know him?”

“Of course. He comes by here a lot.” Jeri smiled. “His always really nice and is more polite then the other students here.”

“I’ll say.” Davis scoffed. “Anyways we’ll meet up and talk about the e-mail tomorrow.”

“Aye, aye captain.” Jeri did a small salute before giggling and heading back up the stairs.

Davis chuckled before turning around and heading back home.

“Making friends?” DemiVeemon asked.

“Shut up.” Davis hit DemiVeemon’s head. “We better head home. We got a meeting tomorrow.”

“The meeting for the Digital Divers will now commence.” Jeri called after everyone had arrived on what they all began to call the Headquarters.

“Digital Divers?” Davis asked.

“It’s one of the names we came up for our group name.” Marcus explained "Though we haven’t really decided on it yet.”

“We’re getting a name?”

“It was Jeri’s idea.” Elecmon said. “I do believe it is a good idea since all of the groups we are a part of seem to have names.”

“All of ours?”

“Yeah. In the show we’re called Adventure by the fans.” DemiVeemon piped up. “Jeri’s is called the Tamers and Marcus’s group has the official name of the Digimon Data Squad.”

“Adventure sounds kind of lame.” Davis snorted. “Anyways. Names is not our current topic. We’re here to talk about the Midnight e-mail.”

“Whoever makes those videos is a real jerk!” Agumon shouted angrily. “They think we’re playing a game.”

Marcus punched the ground, “They has some nerve to say all that stuff.”

“They are quite arrogant to say that to us and to openly admit to be planning to have another victim.” Elecmon frowned.

“Not to mention they thinks we’re the ones meddling.” Jeri huffed.

“They’re a real meanie.” Calumon whined.

“Hold on this isn’t what we should be focusing on right now.” Davis announced. He really wanted to get angry and complain as well right now, but he can save that for later tonight with DemiVeemon. “We need to focus on the contents and worry about what they mean.”

“Dai is right.” DemiVeemon agreed. “We should focus on the real problem and not keep getting sidetracked.”

“Ok then how about we look at the first part.” Elecmon twitched his ears as he recalled the e-mail. “The culprit seemed to be congratulating us on saving Jeri. What would that mean?”

“It’s possible that Jeri wasn’t really meant to be killed, but to be saved so they can have another player in the game.” Marcus tapped his chin.

“I don’t think so.” Jeri argued. “If they didn’t want to kill me and make me a player, all they had to do was steal my Digivice and create Elecmon again right?”

“But we had to fight MadLeomon first and it wouldn’t have appeared if you weren’t there.” DemiVeemon spoke. “So either he threw you in there just because you were a digidestined or to make you a player.”

“But why me?” Jeri asked.

“Because you’re connected to the digital world.” Davis answered. “Remember both of the prior victims had some sort of connection to the Digital World. You had a particular strong connection, making you an obvious target.”

“Yeah I suppose so.” Jeri mumbled.

“Davis you’ve seen the most e-mails so far right.” Marcus asked. Davis nodded his head. “Then is there any common thing in those e-mails?”

“I would have to say that they keep talking about digital affairs or asking us if we really want to do this or not.” Davis hummed. “The culprit may also be connected to the Digimon like how we are since he keeps talking about how we are meddling with them and the fact he was choosing Jeri long before the first e-mail.”

“Is it possible it could be someone we’ve already met?” Jeri asked.

“I don’t think so.” Calumon shook his head. “If it was then I’m you would remember who kidnapped you Jeri.”

“I suppose so.” Jeri sighed. “I’m sorry everyone. I just can’t remember what happened.”

“Don’t sweat it.” Agumon waved it off. “If I was suddenly whisked away and forced to face the ugly side of me, I’d be too worn out to remember.”

“You saying you already aren’t ugly?” Marcus asked.

“Boss! That’s so cruel!”

“I think you are super cute Agumon.” Jeri smiled as she petted Agumon’s head.

“See Boss? Jeri knows what she’s talking about!” Agumon smiled in victory at Marcus who rolled his eyes.

“Anyways, what about the rest of the e-mail?” Marcus asked.

“The e-mail goes on to confirm another person will go to the Digital World. Who that is we don’t know until the next possible e-mail.” Davis answered.

“Then they go on to say we are playing heroes, our initials again, asking if we will save them and awaiting our answer.” DemiVeemon added on. “Though he used Jeri’s full name but kept both Marcus’s and Dai’s as initials.”

“Why is that?” Calumon hummed.

“I don’t know.” Davis sighed. “Without more information, we will just get ourselves in circles with theories that may or may not be true.”

“So we wait until the next victim?” Marcus asked outraged. “We can’t just have another person fall in just so we can figure out some stupid initial change!”

“And I agree.”

“Huh?”

“Like Dai said. We agree to that.” DemiVeemon explained. “We don’t want another person to fall in to satisfy some information that may not even be relevant.”

“I know I’m rash at times and may not always think ahead, but I wouldn’t put someone’s life at risk to satisfy myself.” Davis huffed and crossed his arms. “Do I really come off like that to you Marcus?”

“W-what?” Marcus stuttered

“Marcus that is cold.” Jeri pouted.

“Hold on I didn’t..” Marcus looked around before giving a loud groan and turning away.

Davis smiled, “Just messing with you Marcus. Can’t you take a joke?”

“Oh I’ll make you take a joke.” Marcus growled. Davis gave an eep before picking up Elecmon and using him as a shield.

“Wouldn’t this qualify for satisfying oneself.” Elecmon sighed. Davis chuckled before letting the Rookie down.

“So does anyone else have any theories on the Midnight E-mail?” Davis asked. Everyone looked at each other for bit before everyone shook their heads. “Then I suppose meeting is adjourned.”

“Well since the Midnight E-Mail is out of the way.” Elecmon trailed off before nodding over at Jeri.

“Elecmon and I have been talking about this and believe that our group should have a leader.” Jeri smiled.

“What?” Davis asked.

“It makes sense.” Marcus said. “I mean every group has to have a leader, if we all go off an do our own things it could up pretty bad for all of us. Remember back in the Digital World in the battle with MadLeomon? If you hadn’t warned me not to move then one of us would have gotten hit by his attacks.”

“Yeah I suppose.” Davis sighed. “So are you saying you want to be leader Jeri?”

Jeri gave him a shocked look, “What? No way. I don’t think I could handle it. You saw my shadow right? What it said was true. Plus between you, Marcus and obviously the Digimon, I have the least amount of experience when it comes to the Digital World and fighting.”

“What about Elecmon his probably the oldest one here.”

“Though that is true, I see myself as more of a protector and adviser of sorts. Plus I’ll be too busy fighting to give out real commands. As would the rest of the Digimon.”

“No way Agumon could be a leader.” Marcus snorted. “He would demand us to feed him or be too busy trying to beat the opponent in front of us to do it.”

“Yep! Wait…” Agumon paused.

“Then I elect Marcus.” Davis shrugged his shoulders. “He was in the Digital World for three whole years.”

Jeri exchanged looks with Elecmon and then with DemiVeemon. The blue lizard gave an apologetic look as the girl whispered something in his ear before turning over to Marcus.

“What do you think Marcus?” Jeri asked.

“Though I wouldn’t mind..” Marcus paused. “I think Dai is much more suited for it.”

“Well then….” Davis stopped before widening his eyes. “Wait what?”

“I think you should be leader.” Marcus repeated. “You’ve been the one coming up with all the plans. Figuring out Devidramon’s weakness, making both the plans to fight Boogeymon and MadLeomon and kept me from rushing off and getting myself killed. Plus, unlike a certain blonde friend of mine, you like to go with my fighting style and act like a real man.”

“I was thinking Davis should be leader too!” Calumon agreed.

“Yeah. He was leader in his show so I bet he has the most experience taking command.” Jeri smiled.

“Looks like its decided then.” Elecmon nodded.

“Yeah! Dai is smart!” Agumon cheered.

Davis, who was sitting in silence, listened stunned at what everyone was saying. They really wanted him leader? Why? Jeri said he was the leader in the T.V show but he never really felt like it. It was always T.K who took charge not him. Davis hung his head trying to think of why exactly everyone was showing so much confidence in him being leader. He always thought he was never really good at it.

“Davis? You ok?” Elecmon’s voice broke Davis out of his thinking.

“Huh? Oh uh. Just fine.” Davis shook his head. “Are you all sure you want me to be leader?”

“Yeah.” “We said it didn’t we?” “Of course Dai!” “Don’t act modest.”

“But…” Davis stopped when he felt an arm wrap around his shoulders.

“Sheesh stop doing that.” Marcus groaned in fake annoyance. “We are declaring you leader because you’re best fit for the job. So stop thinking you’re not. Trust me wouldn’t let just anyone order me around.”

“Thanks.” Davis whispered.

“You don’t have to say thanks.” Marcus punched Davis’s head. “Just accept it.”

“Fine. Fine. I’ll do it.” Davis smiled as he pushed Marcus off him. “You’d probably get us killed if you lead anyway.”

“Really?” Marcus wrapped both his arms around Davis’s neck and began choking him lightly.

“Ahh!” Davis made a choke sound.

“How come all our conversations end up with Marcus choking Davis.” Elecmon sighed, but Jeri giggled at the two boys.

DemiVeemon smiled as Davis got out of Marcus’s grip and got into a small argument with the boy. He watched as Davis smiled as he dodged Marcus’s next attack. Then when he got really panicked with everyone when Marcus nearly fell off the roof and laughed when they barely managed to pull Marcus back to safety. Even if Davis didn’t notice it himself, DemiVeemon could tell that Davis had changed from when DemiVeemon first arrived. His smile dropped for a bit.

“You ok DemiVeemon?” Agumon asked tilting his head at the in-training Digimon.

“Yep.” DemiVeemon lied. “Just a little worried for Marcus there.”

“Ok. Oh hey! Can we go training tomorrow?” Agumon turned his attention to the others.

“Yeah why not.” Davis nodded. “It’s raining tomorrow so no one should be to suspicious if one of us wore a big jacket that we can use to hide Jeri’s sword.”

“Yes!”

 _“Daisuke.”_ DemiVeemon thought glumly. _“I don’t know if tomorrow will be that good of a day.”_

“For once I’m glad to be at school.” Davis spoke as he walked down the streets. “I didn’t think it would be so much fun to sit with Jeri. I just have to show you the stuff she writes when she passes notes. Though not the one’s about you.”

DemiVeemon didn’t respond as he laid in Davis’s backpack.

“Hey. I know something’s wrong, mind telling me what it is?” Davis asked as he swung the backpack to the front of him and opened it to look at his partner.

“Just really worried.” DemiVeemon whispered.

Davis smiled, “Hey don’t worry about Akiko. I was able to get her to switch to her friend’s classes. Man the schools here are really lenient aren’t they?”

“They really are.” DemiVeemon gave a weak smile.

“I know you still feel bad about what happened with the bullies troubles you, but trust if something like that happens again I’ll deal with it personally.” Davis paused and his smile grew wider. “And so would Marcus and Jeri.”

“Your right. Sorry.”

“It’s ok to be worried. Shows you care. So you can worry but at the same time don’t get too worried that you can’t talk.”

“When did you become a counselor?” DemiVeemon joked.

“Please. I’ve always been your counselor.” Davis snorted as he swung his backpack over his back. “Come on, we have to get to school.”

With a smile Davis began to run off. Today was going to be great. He can train with Marcus and Jeri, might hang out with Koh or Helena beforehand and then head home and have dinner with Akiko. It was thrilling to him to have the ability to have so many plans.

_“What’s there to worry about? It’s not likely they’d go to the same high school, even if they did it would be more unlikely for them to be in the same class.”_

“Davis!” Jeri called as said boy entered the classroom. “Are you ready for today?”

“Yeah I am.” Davis said excitedly. “Mind if we stop by and talk to Helena first before heading out? Want to see if I can get more info on the Digimon cards.”

“No problem. We need to stop by my place anyways for Marcus’s coat.”

“Ah. Then it all works out then.” Davis smiled as he took his seat.

“Hey did you hear?” A student spoke catching Davis and Jeri’s attention. “We’re getting a new student today!”

DemiVeemon’s stomach dropped.

“Really? Another one? What’s with all these city folk suddenly taking an interest with the country?” Another replied.

“Maybe because it’s the murder case and they are curious.”

“Another student?” Davis asked. “Wonder what they’ll be like?”

“Well if they were as half as cold as you when we first met, then we may have winter early.” Jeri teased.

Davis glared and punched her arm lightly, “Shut up.”

Jeri laughed as the teacher walked in. Davis smiled as the two turned to the front to pay attention, or in Davis’s case to look like he was paying attention. He turned a little bit to talk to Jeri which the girl was more than eager to chat back.

“Ok class, quiet down.” The teacher spoke. The class continued to talk until the teacher sighed and said, “We have a new student.”

The class immediately quieted down at that.

“Of course.” The teacher sighed before beckoning the new student out in the hall. “Ok. Come on in and introduce yourself.”

Davis felt his smile freeze and DemiVeemon tensed. A boy had walked into the classroom. He wore the exact same uniform as everyone else. He had both his jacket buttoned up to the last to two top buttons. His dress shirt was completely buttoned up and he wore the black tie somewhat loosely around his neck. His messy blond hair was somewhat covered by a white fishermen’s hat and his blue eyes scanned the room before landing on Davis and having them widen in shock.

“D-davis.” The blond stuttered quietly so most of the class didn’t hear. Davis didn’t even know how he knew what the blond said but he couldn’t help it when he replied with the new student’s name.

“T.K.”


	18. Days Before Move

_A few days earlier…._

 

“What?” Yamato yelled into the phone. T.K had to pull his cellphone away to make sure he didn’t lose his hearing. “What do you mean you’re moving?”

T.K pulled the phone back, “Don’t worry Yamato. I’m not moving to the town permanently, just until Mom can write up her story.”

“I know but…” Matt sighed. “I just don’t know how long that will be. Not to mention it sounds like it’s far away so I can’t visit you. What town is it anyway?”

“Don’t know. Didn’t catch it.” T.K lied. “But I heard it takes hours just to get there. Mom left the town around 3:30 and didn’t arrive home till 10:30.”

“Looks like you have a terrible ride ahead of you in two days.” Matt laughed into the phone. “Anyways are you done packing?”

“Just finished actually.”

“Well get a good night’s rest. You’re going to have explain this all to the others tomorrow.”

T.K groaned, “Don’t remind me.”

“Good night Takeru.”

“Night.”

T.K hung up the phone after that and flopped onto his bed. He turned on to his back and looked up at the ceiling. He felt horrible for lying to his brother about the town he was going to, but in case he remembered the town’s name, and who was there, he wouldn’t let T.K go there without some fight. Or worse go with T.K there. Most of the time he wouldn’t mind if Yamato was there, but he might not want his over protective brother there if he wanted to fix things with Davis.

T.K gave a sigh as the name entered his mind. It’s been days since he has last seen Davis, weeks since his even talked to him. T.K didn’t know if it was his fault or if it was Davis for their fight a few weeks before T.K had figured out Davis was moving to Inaba for a year, but the blond knew because of that fight a lot of stuff went downhill for the tanner boy.

“No time to be thinking about that.” T.K mumbled before turning to his side and falling asleep.

“Say what?!” Everyone shouted after school. They were all sitting around the tree at a park.

“Yep. I’m moving.”

“For how long?” Sora asked.  “It won’t be too long will it?”

“No it shouldn’t be too long. Just as long as it takes for Mom to write her story.”

“What town are you going to anyway?” Taichi asked.

“I don’t know yet.” T.K lied.

“You don’t know?” Iori asked. T.K nodded at his DNA digivolve partner. “I see.”

“So you won’t stay long?” Hikari asked hopefully leaning closer to her childhood friend to look for confirmation.

“I won’t be long Kari, so don’t worry.” T.K smiled.

“It will be boring in science class without you.” Miyako sighed as she flipped her purple hair behind her.

“You say that now, until you get paired with a cute boy.” Sora teased.

“Excuse me, but I’m loyal to Ken!”

“I know, I know.”

The chat soon changed to ideal chatter about school life, with a few comments about missing T.K here and there or something about calling T.K every so often. T.K listened politely and responded here and there, though his mind was elsewhere. He knew what town he was going to, and knew that at least someone with the last name Motomiya was there. What was he going to do when he met Davis? Say sorry? That may calm Davis down when he sees the blond, assuming Davis is furious once he sees them, or may get the mahogany haired boy angrier and get T.K punched in the face. Hopefully the former.

T.K snorted at that, _“Knowing Davis, he’ll punch me in the face.”_

“Thought of something T.K?” Hikari asked.

“Huh? Oh yeah totally.” T.K did a small laugh. “Guys want to hear the story of how I broke some of these dishes?”

“Anyways I should probably head home to make sure I have everything packed.” T.K sighed after a while and stood up.

“So it’s in a few days?” Joe asked. “Make sure you pack all the medicine you have, as well as a first aid kit and maybe some snacks for the trip.”

“You worry too much.” Tachi laughed as he punched Joe in the arm. “Anyways have fun and be careful T.K. Just don’t be shocked when we throw you a big party tomorrow.”

“I won’t. Anyways, later guys.” T.K waved as he turned around and walked off. He gave a sigh when he thought he was far enough that the others wouldn’t hear him.

“So you are upset.” Iori spoke from beside T.K.

“Ah!” T.K jumped and fell down from the shock of the younger boy suddenly being by him. “Iori! You scared me!”

“You usually are able to tell when I’m here.” Iori offered his hand and T.K gratefully accepted it. “So, my guess is you do know what town you are going too.”

 _“Man I forgot Iori can read people so well.”_  T.K thought before sighing in defeat and nodding his head.

“Is it Inaba?”

“Will you ever stop being right.” T.K joked and he nodded his head. “Yeah.”

“You do know the others don’t really know that Davis moved to that town. Well maybe Taichi, but I think everyone else was way to upset at Davis at the time to figure out where he went.”

“They shouldn’t have been it was my fault.” T.K sighed.

“You mean for your guy’s fight?” Iori asked.

“Yeah. I guess since you weren’t there you may not have been as upset over it.” T.K kicked the ground before continuing his way home. “So have you heard what happened?”

“I have, but I’ve learned to listen to both sides of the stories before deciding on how I should feel.” Iori looked T.K in the eye. “And from my perspective it’s both you and Davis that are the sides of the stories I should be listening too.”

“Well you see…” T.K paused.

“You’re worried if you should be telling me or not huh?”

“Can you read minds?”

“No. We are DNA digivolving partners after all.” Iori shrugged. “Though we didn’t have some big revelation like the others I still think we formed a strong enough bond to know how the others feel.”

“Sometimes I forget you’re only in 7th grade, Iori.” T.K looked Iori up and down. Though he was somewhat short he had definitely grown a good height and was now at T.K’s shoulders. Not to mention he was way more mature then when most people met him. Maybe it was because Davis was kind of influential on the boy and now Iori had let his brown hair be messy, though still somewhat well kept.

Iori just shrugged his shoulders, “I suppose it’s from the way I act. Anyways are you willing to talk about what happened?”

T.K sighed. He really didn’t like to think about and he knew Iori would understand if he didn’t want to talk about it, but it could be nice to get this off his chest without someone getting mad. Iori was someone he could trust and get unbiased opinion on. He gave Iori a nod before beginning what happened during the last few days of Jr. High.

_“Davis!” T.K yelled at the goggle head as said boy was walking past the school gates. He stopped for a moment before hanging his head and continuing on. T.K glared a little before rushing after the boy, “Davis.”_

_T.K grabbed the slightly taller boy by the shoulders and turned him around. T.K eyes softened as he figured out his fears were confirmed. Davis had a bruise on his cheek and he was bleeding slightly on his forehead. Davis’s chocolate eyes were glaring at T.K. T.K sighed as he let go of the other boy’s shoulder._

_“You got into another fight didn’t you?”_

_“What’s it to you?” Davis snapped turning around yet again. Before he could get far T.K stepped in front of him. “Do you mind? I kind of have to get home right now.”_

_“And you wouldn’t have to if you didn’t keep getting into fights! This makes the eighth one this week you know!”_

_“I don’t need a lecture! T.J!” Davis growled as he pushed past the boy._

_T.K was starting to lose it. Davis had gotten into so many fights after the others had separated from their partners. Not to mention he was distancing himself from at least T.K! Getting in so much trouble with other students. It’s two years and the boy was still acting like it happened just yesterday! Didn’t he know they all were upset? That they had moved on? Why was Davis being so stubborn about this?_

_“You are acting like such a child!” T.K shouted in anger._

_Davis whipped around, “What did you just say?”_

_“You are acting like a child!” With each word T.K had taken another step closer to Davis. Both the boys were glaring angrily at each other. “You keep acting like you are the only one suffering because your partner is gone! Well guess what? You’re not! We all miss our partners, but we all moved on! Yet here you are acting like a child, pouting and whining how your partner is gone and keep getting into trouble because you think no one can understand you. You’re acting like a whiny, angsty teenager!”_

_“You think you understand…” Davis whispered hanging his head so T.K couldn’t see his face. “You think you know what it feels like to lose one of your only friends in the world?”_

_Davis brought his face back up. All the anger T.K had felt before had suddenly vanished upon seeing tears coming down Davis’s face. Davis grabbed T.K’s wrist and pulled the blond closer._

_“You think you really understand how much pain I feel?”_

_“D-davis!” T.K stuttered. The anger and sadness in Davis’s eyes had completely shut down anything T.K could come up with._

_“I don’t want to hear it!” Davis snapped as he raised a fist and punched T.K square in the cheek._

_T.K stumbled as Davis let him go before quickly recovering. All sympathy from before gone as he retaliated with his own punch across Davis’s face. Davis looked shocked for a moment before lunging at T.K and pinning the blue eyed boy to the floor. T.K squirmed under Davis’s grasp but the brunette was much stronger the T.K was from sports. Davis raised a fist and punched T.K yet again. He brought it up again and repeated the motion several times. T.K even felt he was hit in the stomach once or twice. T.K was about to bring up one of his own fists when suddenly Davis’s weight disappeared. T.K blinked a few times before sitting up. His right cheek was swollen up pretty bad so it took him a while to see what had happened._

_When his eyes finally adjusted he found Davis had been pulled away by both Hikari and Miyako. The two were holding a limp Davis back as he stared at the ground. T.K knew it wasn’t in shame. Davis wasn’t the one to feel shame for his actions, especially if it was something that dealt with his emotions._

_“What is wrong with you?” Hikari asked outraged. “Why were you hitting T.K?”_

_“Stop being an idiot for ten seconds for once!” Miyako growled just as angry at Davis as Hikari was._

_Davis just sat there not even reacting to what they were saying. T.K felt his body tense as Davis shook the two girl’s arms off of him, expecting another attack. Instead Davis just gave T.K a sad look before turning his back to all three digidestined and walking off. A crowd had appeared and many had stepped aside to let Davis walk past the students. T.K sat there dumbfounded because he was sure he heard Davis say something before he left, but that was soon forgotten when both girls had rushed up to T.K._

_“T.K!” Hikari knelt down and hugged T.K. “Are you ok? Did he hurt you badly?”_

_T.K said nothing as he stared emptily at where Davis left. He had crossed a line he shouldn’t have cross and he knew it._

_“That idiot! What was he thinking?” Miyako growled as she looked over T.K’s face. “He wasn’t even holding back. Look at how swollen your right cheek is. You’re also bleeding kind of badly too.”_

_“What did he say?” T.K whispered as some of his vision faded and he fell._

“I had to stay home the next day because of the bruising on my stomach.” T.K put his hand on his stomach and began observing Iori. “Everyone was so upset with Davis. Miyako might have exaggerated it a bit, and Hikari told me she wouldn’t talk to Davis until she saw him apologize to me. I think Matt had gone off and punched Davis, since, you know his Matt.”

“Yes. I heard that from Koshiro.” Iori confirmed. “However Davis just touched his cheek before turning away from Matt and walking away.”

“That’s what I thought. After that Taichi also took back his goggles away from Davis.”

“That’s when he started distancing himself from everyone.” Iori shook his head. “Without Ken or Veemon around I don’t think he had anyone to talk about that with. I did try to talk with him once or twice, but he just smiled and messed with my hair before walking away.”

“Davis..” T.K hung his head. _“He really had no one to talk to, and he probably didn’t want to drag Iori into it.”_

“It must have hurt a lot to have everyone turn on him.” Iori continued, snapping T.K out of his thoughts. “After all he had already lost Veemon.”

T.K flinched, “Yeah, but we also lost our partners too.”

“Yeah that is true but,” Iori turned to T.K. “We have to know that same experiences have different effects on different people.”

“What do you mean?”

“Yeah we lost our partners but we still had each other right?”

“But Davis had us as well!” T.K stopped glaring more at what Iori said then Iori himself.

“Do you think Davis knows that?” Iori asked tilting his head. “And did we really?”

“W-what? Iori you are making no sense!”

“I suppose not.” Iori shrugged his shoulders. “I also could be very wrong. I’m not one of Davis’s closer friends like Veemon and Ken, not to mention he is a very hard person to read. After all no one knows how Davis feels, except Davis himself. I can’t make assumptions from my observations, especially since Davis has shown to be quite the surprising person.”

“Hold on! Iori what are you talking about?” T.K asked. He wasn’t even sure how the conversation turned into this. About how Davis felt. Ok, what Davis felt was important, but this wasn’t the direction T.K was going for.

“About Davis. Isn’t that what you wanted to talk about?” Iori asked.

“I mean yeah it is but…” T.K stopped himself and sighed. “Why are we talking about this? I thought we were going to talk about how I should talk to him if I run into him in Inaba.”

“And Davis’s feelings aren’t something that will help prepare you?” Iori squinted his green eyes.

“I-I just want to know if I was in the wrong or if Davis was in our argument.” T.K frowned and turned away. Some part of him was telling him he didn’t want to get into what Davis felt. Was it fear? Fear that T.K had really hurt the usually ‘can’t be hurt’ Davis? A memory of Davis crying against a tree entered his head and he shook his head.

“I believe…” Iori spoke and T.K turned his head back over to his younger friend. “I can’t come up with an opinion.”

“Huh?”

“I need to know Davis’s side of the story first before I can give any ‘sagely advice’.” Iori put air quotes around sagely advice before continuing. “Plus I believe that only you and Davis can determine who is in the wrong on this. Whether it was from the words you said, or if it was from Davis losing his cool for no reason has to be discussed between the two of you.”

“Yeah. You’re right.” T.K gave a small smile as he ruffled Iori’s hair. “Your sagely advice comes through again. I’ll talk to Davis about this if I can figure out where he is in Inaba.”

“Just be careful of what you say.” Iori laughed as pushed T.K’s hand off his head. “Anyways I better head over to my grandfather’s. I have kendo lessons.”

“Have fun Iori.” T.K waved.

Iori bowed before standing up straight again and rushing off into the direction of his grandfather’s. As soon as Iori was gone, T.K let his shoulders sag and his gaze fall to the ground. He was pretty worried about confronting Davis about what happened. Mainly because a punch to the face was something that T.K was expecting. Not to mention after what happened between them Davis had gotten into even more fights then before, and finally, from what he heard from Jun, Davis would be moving to Inaba this school year. Guilt had wormed its way inside T.K over that it felt a whole like his fault.

T.K sighed before heading home. He suddenly felt too tired to do anything else.

 

“Have fun T.K!” Sora smiled. It was the next day and T.K and his mother were at the train station preparing to depart. “Make sure you have a lot of fun.”

“I hear Inaba can get pretty cold in the winter so remember to have a lot of warm clothes to wear when it comes around.” Joe advised.

“I’m going to miss you.” Hikari gave a sad smiled as she hugged T.K.

“Ok. Ok. That’s enough.” Taichi laughed as he pulled Hikari off.

“Make sure you keep up with your studies.” Koshiro nodded. “Don’t treat this as a time to slack off.”

“Both you and Joe are such party killers you know that?”

Iori stepped forward and clasped his hand on T.K’s shoulder. T.K looked at Iori’s eyes and that was enough to tell him what Iori wanted to say. To be safe and to find Davis. Surprisingly after Iori stepped away, it was Taichi who stepped forward and leaned in to whisper into T.K’s ear.

“Hey. Make sure you find Davis. I feel just as bad as you do about what happened. But I have a feeling…” Tachi stopped there and smiled before he leaned back and stepped away. T.K was shocked about how Taichi knew all this before he saw Iori shoot him an apologetic look.

 _“I guess he went off to tell Tachi. I guess it’s ok since Taichi is, was, one of the closest person to Davis.”_ T.K thought.

“Better not be flirting with my brother Tai.” Yamato joked as he jabbed Taichi in the stomach.

“Ow! Hey you know I wouldn’t.” Taichi smiled playfully at the former loner.

“Hey be safe out there ok?” Yamato hugged T.K before stepping back.

“Sheesh Matt. I can take care of myself.” T.K pouted.

“I know that.” Matt laughed as he ruffled T.K’s hair.

 _“All aboard for those heading to Inaba. All aboard for those heading to Inaba.”_  The intercom boomed.

“That’s us honey.” Mrs. Takeshi whispered over to T.K.

“Ok.” T.K stood up and grabbed his luggage. “I’ll see you all later.”

“Try to not to stay to long!” Miyako cheered and everyone gave there agreement.

T.K smiled at all his friends before turning around and walking to the train. When he and his mother boarded he placed both their luggage above them before sitting down with a sigh. His mother pulled a book out of her purse and she began reading. T.K turned his head to the window as the train began to move. He saw Iori wave to him before turning around and following the others out of the station.

T.K smiled and yawned as he slouched in the chair. Tomorrow he would be going to Yasogami High in Inaba. The town where Davis was. He needed to clear this up with Davis, apologize to the boy and hopefully this feeling of guilt would disappear. Though he felt nervous about how the boy would react, given that Davis can react violently at times, he just hoped their meeting would be sudden and they were facing each other with a lot of people watching. Like in a classroom or something. T.K laughed a little at the thought. After all it was unlikely they would be in the same high school, let alone the same class. So he had nothing to worry about.

Oh how he was wrong about that.

“D-davis.” T.K whispered at the front of the classroom. His eyes fixated on the darker skinned boy sitting at his desk.

“T.K.” Davis said, but louder.

 _“Welp. I jinxed myself didn’t I?”_  T.K thought.


	19. Memories of the Past

Jeri looked back and forth between the two boys who were staring at each other in shock. Jeri was a little shocked herself to be honest to see the blonde from the first two seasons of her friends’ favorite T.V show standing looking like he had seen a ghost.

“Um Davis…” Jeri whispered over to Davis. The boy blinked, snapping out of whatever had kept him staring at the boy and turned to face Jeri. “You ok? You’re kind of shaking.”

Davis’s eyes widened and he looked to see his fists were clenched and shaking. He took a deep breath and forced his hands to stop. He was beyond upset to see T.K here, but he couldn’t let that get to him. He can’t make Jeri or Elecmon worry.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Just shocked to see him here is all.” Davis forced a smile at Jeri. She gave him a worried look, but he ignored it and put his attention back to the front of the class.

“What was that? I don’t think I heard you?” The teacher asked T.K who had finally tore his gaze away from Davis and was now looking at the teacher.

“Oh. Sorry about that.” T.K gave a sheepish laugh and scratched the back of his head before continuing. “I’m T.K Takeshi. It’s nice to meet you all.”

T.K bowed and whispers began to spread around the room. Davis just sunk in his chair and avoided eye contact with T.K no matter what.

 _“What is he doing here?”_ Davis thought sneaking one glance over at the blonde as he looked around the room for a place to sit. _“Why the heck is he here? Why does he even go to this school? And why is he specifically in my class?”_

“Takeshi. You can sit right behind Motomiya. The boy with the bushy hair.”

 _“Ok. I thought school hated me. Nope it absolutely loathes me.”_ Davis sunk deeper in his chair.

T.K’s eyes widened for a moment, before thanking the teacher and walking over and taking his seat behind Davis. He snuck a glance at Davis, but the brunette looked away. T.K sighed before turning his attention to class.

Jeri watched in confusion at the exchange. She knew the two didn’t get along in the show, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as this right now. Davis was scowling as he paid attention to what the teacher was saying, which was already sending alarm bells going off in Jeri’s head. While T.K looked entirely nervous when he looked at Davis. Did something happen after the show to make the two like this?

“Teach can I use the restroom?” Davis raised his hand and asked. The teacher glared at the rudeness of Davis interrupting the class, but the brunette didn’t care about that.

“Fine but please be quick.” The teacher sighed.

Davis nodded as he stood up from his seat and exited the classroom. Jeri and T.K both watched as Davis opened the door and rushed out. The boy ran down the hall and straight to the men’s restroom. He looked around to see if anyone was there. When he confirmed no one was there he punched one of the stall door in frustration.

Everything! Everything was going perfectly well! He made friends with Koh, Jeri, Marcus, Calumon and others, but now T.K was here! Why? Why was he here? Was he here just to tell him off? To tell him he was an idiot? To punch him in the face for what he did? Was he here just to make him feel bad?

_“Who do you think you are?”_

Davis’s breath hitched as a memory came back to him. A blonde had come and punched him across in the face. It hurt a lot. Though it wasn’t T.K. It was Yamato, T.K’s older brother. Sora and Koshiro were there two, giving Davis disappointed looks. They were upset at him for hurting T.K. He expected that. He did punch the living daylights out of the boy. Though Davis didn’t regret it in the slightest, but the looks they gave him made his stomach ache. Then Matt continued to yell at him some more with some comments here and there by Koshiro and Sora.

Davis had told them it was T.K that started it, but they didn’t listen. They continued on as if it was Davis was the one at fault, showing T.K wouldn’t even get a slap on the wrist. Davis, was fed up with it and said:

_“Well I don’t regret punching him till he bleed. He deserved it!”_

That obviously didn’t win him any points with the three. In all honesty it just made Yamato angrier and now both Sora and Izzy had begun to get angry as well. Davis didn’t care anymore and just turned around and left. Though the feeling of pain had hit his heart from the insults Yamato had thrown over at him. He felt guilt, but more for the fact he had just upset his friends further then for punching T.K.

“Calm down Davis.” Davis whispered to himself as he leaned on the wall for support, as if it would help stop the flow of memories.

_“Don’t talk to me.”_

Tears slid down Davis’s eyes as another memory butted into his mind. This time it was Hikari and Miyako turning their backs on him. Hikari was the one who said that. She was absolutely livid at what Davis did to her best friend and, what Davis assumed, crush. Davis couldn’t blame her for it. If someone had punched Ken, Davis would be just as upset. But that was just someone! A stranger! If Tachi had punched Ken, yeah Davis would yell at him, but he would at least try to figure out why his idol did it. He would try to figure out why any of his friends, the people he fought side by side, risked his life for, would punch Ken.

He tried again to explain that T.K had started it, but yet again they didn’t believe him. They just glared at him and told him he was coming up with excuse or just trying to get T.K in trouble. Davis had just stood there shocked as Miyako and the girl that was one of the first people to ever be nice to Davis, were looking at him in disdain and not even believing what he was saying. Not even bothering to listen. He always knew everyone favored T.K, but it was now just crashing down on him how little they cared for Davis in comparison to T.K.

_“Why were you made leader when you can’t even control your temper, unlike T.K.”_

As soon as Miyako said those words, her eyes widened and a hand went automatically to her mouth. Davis didn’t care at that point though. He told them the exact same thing he said to Yamato, that he didn’t regret what he did. After that he turned around and left. Not caring what the two girls said. They didn’t care about how he felt, they probably never cared at all.

Davis slid to the floor as memories of all the insults came to him. All the time they ignored him or belittled him. It hurt. It hurt so much from those feelings. He was fine with Hikari, until T.K showed up. He was leader, but it didn’t matter since everyone would rather listen to T.K. When he was the one that wouldn’t give up, the others only joined in when T.K joined in. He saved the day, yet T.K was the one that was treated as the hero. Davis’s life was just fine before T.K entered the picture and now here he was again, probably going to take the spotlight and earn everyone’s favor again.

 _“Why can’t I just be able to be hero without T.K coming along and ruining it?”_ Davis thought with a sob.

“Davis has been gone for a while.” Jeri whispered her gaze going back to the door. “Is he ok?”

“I don’t know.” Elecmon responded from the digivice. “Maybe we should go check on him.

“Right. Excuse me…” Jeri raised her hand, but as soon as she did the door to the classroom opened and Davis stepped inside. He gave a smile before bowing and taking his seat next to Jeri, making sure to avoid looking at T.K.

“Yes Katou?” The teacher asked.

“Never mind.”

The teacher looked puzzled for a moment before shrugging and continuing the lesson. Jeri shot a worried glance at Davis who just gave a weak smile in response. Her eyes widened when she saw how red Davis’s eyes were.

“Davis…” Jeri whispered.

“I’m fine Jeri.” Davis interrupted. “Hey how about we go on off and train today? I figured out a way to sneak into the store.”

“Huh?” Jeri’s eyes widened at how quick Davis was to cut her off. She reached out a hand and placed it on Davis’s arm. “Davis. If you need to talk…”

“I-I…” Davis turned his head away. “I just don’t want to right now ok? So please, can we go training?”

Jeri sat there. Usually she would try to get it out whatever her friend was hiding from her, but the desperation in his voice immediately shut the idea down.

“Yeah ok.” Jeri nodded to Davis before leaning forward a little. “But I’m here if you need to talk ok?”

Davis smiled gratefully, “Yeah. Thanks Jeri.”

T.K watched the exchange. He didn’t know exactly what they were saying to each other, but whatever it was it seemed to make Davis smile. It somewhat shocked T.K. It had been a really long time since his seen Davis smile, and here he was completely happy to be talking to this girl he didn’t know.

 _“Looks like his ok.”_ T.K thought with relief. It looked like Davis was getting along with the people of Inaba and looked like he was no longer depressed. Right when that relief was washing over him, guilt hit him like a tornado when he saw how red Davis’s eyes were. Was he crying? Why?

 _“It was because I showed up.”_ T.K thought with horror. He remembered when he entered the room. Davis was laughing and smiling with the girl right up until Davis spotted him. His whole demeanor changed. He stopped smiling and he looked like his worst fear was right in front of him. _“Does he hate me? What happened to make him hate me so much?”_

T.K was so tormented by his thoughts and guilt that he hadn’t realized that the bell had rang and most of the class was gone. He saw Davis dragging Jeri out of the classroom and the blonde quickly packed up to follow them. He stopped right by the door to see Davis meet up with a taller boy who gave a smile upon seeing Davis and the girl.

“Yo Dai!” Marcus greeted. He stopped and looked Davis right in the face. “Your eyes are a little red.”

“Huh? Oh that.” Davis laughed. “It’s nothing. I’ll talk about it… later.”

Marcus tilted his head in confusion. Davis hoped that the older boy would just leave it alone. He was glad they were showing concern, but he really didn’t need it right now.

“Ok. Then how about we go off and train then.” Marcus punched his fist. “I always thought fighting can make a man feel better.”

“Yeah let’s go!” Agumon spoke from the digivice.

Davis laughed, “Yeah let’s go.”

“Davis.” T.K spoke. Davis froze automatically. He immediately tucked his digivice into his shirt. He couldn’t have T.K discover the transformed device. The wielder of Hope would want to butt in and ask a lot of questions Davis was not willing to answer.

“Hmm.” Davis replied without turning around. It hurt T.K a little, but at least he was responding.

“Who’s he?” Marcus asked looking behind Davis to the blonde. T.K looked at the older boy with curiosity. He could see Marcus was looking just as curious as T.K was though he had a somewhat protective spark in his eyes. T.K should know, since Matt had a fire like that in his eyes when T.K was younger. (And even now.)

“Um. His T.K Takeshi. A new student in our class.” Jeri answered.

“They know each other?” Marcus then smiled.

“Not really.” Davis replied immediately. T.K flinched at how sour Davis’s voice suddenly became. Marcus and Jeri’s eyes widened for a moment at Davis reaction. Davis realizing his mistake quickly backtracked, “What I mean is that we went to the same school in Odaiba.”

Jeri’s lips pursed. She knew that wasn’t the case, but for now, with T.K being there and all, not to pursue the topic.

T.K, on the other hand, felt hurt. He knew for a fact now that Davis was still upset with what happened. Probably the only reason he wasn’t punching T.K right now was the fact that his new friends were standing right there. Guilt hit him again. He didn’t know why he should be feeling guilty, Davis was the one that beat him into submission. Not the other way around! Yet something was telling him all the stuff that happened to Davis afterward was somehow his fault.

“I wanted to say…” T.K spoke, the words catching in his throat. What was he supposed to say? What words would least offend Davis? Are there any words that wouldn’t make Davis upset.

“Say what?” Davis whipped around, anger flaring in his eyes. The words suddenly died in T.K’s throat.

Marcus was looking completely shocked to see Davis on the verge of yelling. Davis was somewhat cold when he first met him, and a little quick to anger, but this was a whole kind of different anger that Marcus could remember that he experienced himself. That kind of anger was never good.

“Look T.K I’m not dealing with this.” Davis growled. “I don’t care what you want to say, because all I know is that I don’t want to hear it.”

“But…” T.K started.

“I don’t care!” Davis snapped. Anger was starting to blind his vision again. If it wasn’t for the pure fact Jeri and Marcus were standing right there, he would have jumped the blonde right then and there. “All I know is what you say is going to push me over the edge, and I don’t want to punch you and….”

Davis stopped himself. His fist shook at the very thought of leaving again. Leaving his new friends all behind, leaving the responsibility he had picked up behind. He was the leader here now and he couldn’t lose his cool. He had to be more like Taichi in this situation and calm himself down. If he left they lost the power of Veemon and the cards he had. He couldn’t lose that now.

“Just go away and leave me alone!”

“Davis...!”

Davis didn’t want to hear it. So he just turned and ran out of the school. Jeri and Marcus’s yells falling on deaf ears as Davis kept on running and running and running, hoping to cool down his anger and to get away from the source of it all.

“Daisuke!” DemiVeemon spoke from the backpack.

“Not now V!” Davis spoke as he rushed blindly down the Samagawa River. He didn’t even realized he had run so far until DemiVeemon had called his name. He came to a halt to catch his breath. He checked behind him to see if anyone had followed him. No one was there, but he could assume Marcus and Jeri were looking for him. They did follow after him when he rushed to find Akiko.

Davis spotted a table nearby and decided to sit there for now to let his thoughts catch up to him. T.K was here and he wanted to say something to him. Judging by his face the boy looked really scared to say it, either that or Davis scared him. Good. He didn’t want to get in trouble again with the blonde. The others were probably shocked at Davis’s outburst and retreat.

The others. DemiVeemon.

Upon that realization Davis put his backpack in front of him. He gave a quick look around to see if anyone was around. When he was sure no one was there, he opened the backpack and DemiVeemon’s head stuck out, his eyes looking worriedly up at Davis.

“Daisuke…” DemiVeemon whispered

“I.” Davis sighed as he pulled his partner out and hugged him gently. “I know DemiVeemon.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Just give me a minute ok?”

“Take your time.”

Davis sighed in relief as he put his backpack to his side to allow DemiVeemon a place to sit. Normally he would have made a joke about how DemiVeemon was too fat to keep holding him like that, but he didn’t have it in him. For now he just wanted to sit and pray that with T.K being here, that his life wouldn’t come crashing down all over again and lose the friends he had just made.

“Dai! Dai!” Marcus was shouting at the top of his lungs for the younger boy as he ran down the Shopping District. Next to him Jeri had also was yelling the boy’s name in hopes that he’ll respond. People were beginning to stare, but shrugged it off as them looking for a younger sibling.

“Boss where do you think he went?” Agumon asked from the digivice.

“I don’t know!” Marcus growled. He had tried to chase after the Davis the moment the boy had took off sprinting out of the school, but Marcus just couldn’t match the soccer player’s pace.

“Is it possible he went home?”

“No.” Jeri huffed beside them. “I already went there to check, but Akiko says she hasn’t seen him.”

“He seemed very emotional. We need to find him soon.” Elecmon spoke.

“Maybe he went to the park Aki was at?” Agumon suggested.

“I checked there.” Calumon argued. “I didn’t see him or DemiVeemon.”

“He has DemiVeemon with him, so I’m sure he’ll be ok, but…” Marcus clicked his tongue in frustration.

“We can’t leave him alone.” Jeri nodded.

“Wait. Jeri you’ve seen the show he was on right?” Agumon asked. “Do you know why Davis rushed away from T.K like that?”

Jeri stopped for a moment to catch her breath. Once she did she shook her head tiredly.

“No. I mean they always had a rivalry in the show, but it was never to the point Davis would run away or make an excuse to go to the bathroom for the long time and come back with red eyes, as if he was crying.” Jeri explained. “I always thought it was over some girl, but now it looks like it goes way off from that.”

Marcus had folded his arms and began absorbing the information. It was definitely not something over a girl, well it could be, but to Marcus it didn’t seem that Davis was the type to run away or cry over something like that. Then there were the small and subtle twitches Davis did when the mention of former teammates came up, like it made the new found leader uncomfortable. The way Davis was biting his lip or cheek when the shop owner started talking about fights and the way Davis was cold when they first met him. How he cried when they first failed to save Jeri. Was what Davis went through connected to all of this somehow?

Marcus sighed. He may have all these clues but he couldn’t connect them together in his mind, a thing he would definitely leave to Davis from now on. Not to mention he was kind of bad with handling people’s emotions.

“Let’s focus on finding him for now. If he refuses to talk then…” Marcus finalized. “Then we’ll make it up as we go.”

“Right.” Jeri nodded a frown on her face. “I just wish I knew what was going on with him. It’s not good to hold in emotions like this.”

And with that said the group split up again in search of Davis.

Davis felt his eyes fall as he began to doze off. It had begun to rain and the light tapping was relaxing and was making the boy drowsy. DemiVeemon was watching his partner in worry. Davis was clearly upset with T.K’s appearance though the blue lizard was glad it wasn’t as violent as he thought it would become. A lot must have happened while DemiVeemon was gone if it would cause Davis, the guy who would only cry at tragic backstories of anime characters, romantic movies and nothing else, escape to the bathroom and cry was nerve wracking to DemiVeemon. It hurt him to know that he couldn’t help his partner in any way during that time because he was stuck in the Digital World.

“Motomiya?”

The voice shocked both DemiVeemon and, the now very awake, Davis. DemiVeemon went to immediate plush mode while Davis looked over to see who was calling out his name in weather like this. Standing there was a familiar purple haired girl holding a similar purple colored umbrella above her head.

“Ah! Um… Sayo!” Davis greeted.

Sayo tilted her head before coming over and sitting beside Davis. A concerned look on her face but she kept silent as she closed her umbrella.

“So… um…” Davis moved uncomfortably. Sayo paid no mind though as she observed Davis’s face. “I was just thinking…”

“It looked more like napping to me.” Sayo blinked. “Mind telling me why you were at the Samagawa while it’s raining like this with no umbrella?”

“Not… really.” Davis whispered.

“Hmmm.” Sayo kicked her legs. “I saw you rush out of the school earlier.”

“Kgah!”

“Kgah?” Sayo blinked in confusion. Davis glared when he saw the faintest of smirks come across her face. “But that is not the point. I’ve been looking for you and so have your friends.”

“What?”

“Though when I saw them earlier they weren’t carrying umbrellas and are undoubtable soaked at this point.”

“What?! They’ll catch a cold!”

“You would too if you were sitting anywhere else but here.” Sayo pointed out. Davis flinched but agreed. Honestly he probably wouldn’t have moved even if he was getting soaked, unless DemiVeemon complained, though Sayo didn’t know that last part.

“Well….” Davis sighed. “So both Marcus and Jeri are looking for me in the rain huh?”

“Huh?” Sayo tilted her head as if in wonderment. “I pretty sure three people are looking for you.”

“Three?” Davis asked but shook his head. Must be Koh, has to be Koh. “Never mind. I can guess who it is. My question is why are you looking for me?”

“You looked quite upset.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“That makes absolutely no sense at all.”

Sayo glared, “We are acquaintances you know. And when I saw you upset I just went to help with the search.”

“But we barely know each other.” Davis argued.

“Are you saying you would not do the same for me?”

Davis opened his mouth again but immediately closed it. He had no argument for that because that would be exactly what he would do if he saw Sayo run off like that. Mainly because he couldn’t imagine the quiet girl being so loud like he was, but also because she had spent some time going out of her way to give his cards back, even during the middle of the night.

“I would do the same for you, but that doesn’t mean you exactly knew that.” Davis continued.

“I suppose not.” Sayo crossed her arms. “But I still felt like I needed to help you. I do not believe their needs to be some ulterior motive behind it.”

“Well…”

“Why can’t you accept that I just wanted to help?”

“Because…” Because their always is. That’s what Davis wanted to say but he kept quiet and shook his head. “It’s just because of stuff.”

Sayo’s eyes softened and handed Davis her umbrella, “Ok. How about you take my umbrella and head home so you can relax.”

“Wait what?”

“You’re going to need it right?”

“Yeah but you need it too!” Davis exclaimed handed the umbrella back. “How will you get home without being soaked?”

“Hmm. That’s right.” Sayo hummed.

“Are you serious? Did you not think that far ahead?” Davis deadpanned.

“I’ve been told that I don’t.” Sayo popped up the umbrella. “Then I suppose I’ll walk you home.”

“Huh?” Davis blushed looking at the small space the umbrella gave. “Aren’t you afraid we’ll be a little close?”

Sayo quirked a brow, “I see no problem with it. Get under.”

Davis looked at DemiVeemon then back up at Sayo. Honestly if it was just Davis, the boy would have opted to go on off on his own and get soaked as to not get to close to the lavender haired girl, not to mention he’d rather not be close to anyone right now. However he had DemiVeemon with him and he’d rather not have his partner get soaked along with him, when he was being really understanding right now. He gave a sighed as he stood up and swung his backpack over his back. He dipped under the umbrella.

“Hold on.” Davis groaned as he took the umbrella in one hand, kept DemiVeemon tucked tightly under his arm, and held it over both their heads. “There. That way I won’t be slouching all the way there.”

“Ah. That might help you.”

Davis scoffed as they began to walk over to his house. This girl didn’t think that far ahead ever did she? Though she was considerate and at least thought to bring an umbrella when it started to rain. It showed she somewhat cared.

“Moto…” Sayo whispered.

“Hmm?” Davis responded.

“May I call you Moto?” Sayo asked.

“Huh? If you want to call me anything why not Davis?”

Sayo winced and looked away, “Never mind. I’ll just call you Motomiya.”

“Woah hold on.” Davis sighed. “You can call me Moto if you want. Makes me sound like some impossibly wild haired anime character, but you can call me Moto.”

Sayo gave a gentle smile, “….”

“You need to speak up a little.”

“Thank you Moto.”

“Why are you thanking me?”

“Hmm? Don’t know. Just felt thankful.”

“You make no sense sometimes.”

“Sorry.” Sayo apologized.

“Don’t apologize!” Davis exclaimed. “Its fine not to make sense that’s part of who you are, don’t change it.”

“Huh?”

This time, it seems Sayo was the one that was taken aback, nearly falling out of the umbrella. Davis quickly moved his arm holding DemiVeemon and pulled the girl back under the umbrella.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“No problem.” Davis sighed in relief. He took a moment to study Sayo’s face, but she quickly looked away. Davis was about to say something, but soon his house came into view.

“Daisuke!” Akiko yelled from the front door. Davis smiled at the girl as he hurried both himself and Sayo to the front door. “Are you ok?”

“Me? Yeah I’m fine.” Davis gave a small smile as his cousin opened the door. He turned to Sayo, “Do you want to come in?”

“No thank you.” Sayo answered as she took back her umbrella allowing Davis to first step inside his home. “I do have to head home.”

“Right, right.”

“Are you Daisuke’s friend?” Akiko asked.

“Huh oh…”

“Yeah she is.” Davis smiled over at Sayo who looked taken aback by his words. “She walked me all the way home with her umbrella when she didn’t have to.”

“Ah!” Akiko brightened up and then bowed to Sayo. “Thank you Miss Lavender for brining Daisuke home.”

“Miss Lavender?” Sayo asked. Davis chuckled weakly.

“Her name’s Sayo Dusk.”

“Ah! Then thank you Miss Dusk.” Akiko re-bowed.

“Um… You’re welcome….” Sayo whispered almost being drowned out by the rain. She turned and waved before beginning to walk away.

“Thanks again Sayo, bye!” Davis waved.

“No problem Moto. Anytime.”

Davis felt a warm feeling rush over him as the unknown voice once again entered his head.

_“Thou art I.. I art Thou… Thou hast established a new bond. Thou shalt be blessed when using Digimon of the Moon arcana.”_

_“Really? Sayo DUSK is Moon?”_ Davis thought tiredly as the thought went through his head

“Daisuke, your friends came by a bunch of times looking for you.” Akiko explained. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.” Davis ruffled Akiko’s hair.

Davos pulled his digivice out of his shirt to check the time really quick. The time read 11:30. He couldn’t believe the others were looking for him this late. May still be looking for him this late. With that in mind he looked through his digivice. If it had absorbed Davis’s D-pad then it may still have…

“ _Bingo.”_ Davis thought when he found the e-mail function. It already had both Marcus and Jeri’s digivice e-mails in it. He sighed at the relief of that and began typing an e-mail that he was ok and back home and that they can start heading home as well.

“Hey you should be heading to bed as well.” Davis said before feeling a nudge from DemiVeemon. Davis looked to the couch to see Akiko already passed out cold.

Davis sighed as he picked her up and carried her to bed. After that was done he changed into his pajamas and flopped on his bed with a satisfying thud.

“Daisuke.” DemiVeemon whispered.

 _“Oh right. That.”_ Davis thought. Davis turned his head over to the blue lizard that was way too close to his face.

“What happened? Why…?”

Davis cut him off, “It’s… really complicated.”

“I’m willing to wait for you to uncomplicate it.”

Davis groaned as he brought a hand to his face. He gripped the bridge on the nose hoping that maybe he could find some way to blow this all over. He wasn’t really willing to remember, and certainly didn’t want to talk about the whole, ‘I punched the living daylights out of T.K, everyone hates me, and I found out I wasn’t really accepted by them in the first place’ thing. The whole thought of those memories resurfacing to his head was enough for Davis to want to cry into his pillow again.

“Just…” Davis turned around. He couldn’t take DemiVeemon’s patient and pleading face anymore. “It’s hard to talk about. Not just because it’s complicated, but also because…”

“I get it.” DemiVeemon stopped Davis. “It’s hard for you to talk about. I won’t press you to far, but just know I’m here for you. I-I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when it happened, but I’ll do my best to be here for you now.”

Davis suddenly snapped his entire body over and wrapped DemiVeemon tightly in his arms. The blue In-Training gave a small yelp of surprise from the sudden movement. He soon felt Davis rubbed his head on top of DemiVeemon’s and the blue lizard swore he could have heard a light sob from Davis.

“Don’t say sorry.” Davis said firmly. “It’s not your fault and it never will be.”

“Daisuke…”

“I’m just glad you’re here right now.” Davis let out a shaky breath. The memories from this morning resurfacing to his mind. The words they said that he tried to forget. Words that tore his heart apart. The way they looked at him in such a way that made him distance himself from them. How they didn’t respect him anymore…. How it was always like that. Davis let out a sob as he held his grip tighter on DemiVeemon. It was always T.K first, Davis last. As long as T.K was around, who needed Davis? Davis wasn’t as great as T.K and the way the all treated the blonde prince better was all the proof Davis needed.

“D-Daisuke.” DemiVeemon breathed out as he reached his small, stubby paws gripping Davis’s baggy white shirt in an attempt to comfort the sobbing boy. “I’ll always be here. If they try to take me away again, I’ll fight.”

“What?” Davis pulled his head back.

“I’ll fight. I’ll fight to stay here. To be by your side.” DemiVeemon spoke with resolution. “I’m not going away again. I’ll make sure you never get hurt alone ever again.”

Davis bit his lip as he brought his head back to DemiVeemon’s.

“Thanks DemiVeemon. The same to you.” Davis yawned. “Can I…?”

“Go ahead.” DemiVeemon smiled. Davis nodded his head as his sobs came back and he gripped DemiVeemon.

“I’ll… tell… you…” Davis sobbed in between each word. He didn’t like crying like this. It made him feel weak, but the pain from the memories and the whole fear of what would happen with T.K here was too much to bear. “When… I… calm… down… And when I can figure out what I need to say.””

“I said this earlier. But I’ll say it again.” DemiVeemon smiled. “I’ll wait forever if I have to.”

“Thanks buddy.” Davis whispered.

 

After a while Davis had already fallen asleep. His arms now loose against DemiVeemon, so the blue lizard could easily move out of them when he heard the tall tail sign of an e-mail appearing. He gripped Davis’s digivice on the table nearby and checked the time to see it was 12:00 a.m. DemiVeemon then checked out the small window in Davis’s room to find that it was also still raining.

“The Midnight E-mail.” DemiVeemon whispered.

DemiVeemon turned to his partner who was making faces at the dream he was having. DemiVeemon contemplated if he should wake up the sleeping boy, but in the end declined the idea as Davis needed his rest after today. The small Digimon hopped over to the computer and opened it silently. After a few clicks he opened the e-mail and found the familiar yellow screen flickering at him. A silhouette appeared, just like with the previous.

DemiVeemon squinted but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t make out who it was. All the small Digimon could tell was that they were a boy and probably at high school age. A sudden thought of T.K being the target hit him but he quickly shrugged it off. T.K just got to town and in no way could he be a target as soon as he got to the town since no one would know him besides Davis and Jeri. Unless someone related to T.K had come to town, which in case might know if T.K was coming thus spreading information around that they had him coming over for some unknown reason.

DemiVeemon sighed. The image was blurring then all the others and was barely visible. He waited for a couple more minutes before the words that everyone hated popped up.

_Another has appeared…_

_Will you rescue them like you did the girl?_

_Or will you let personal feelings get in the way?_

_Will you let them die?_

_Or will you let them live?_

_The chose is yours.._

_D.M,_

_M.D,_

_And Jeri Katou._

DemiVeemon closed the laptop in anger after that. They were going to save this person no matter what! What was he to assume to think they wouldn’t? He hopped on back to Davis’s bed and went back to laying in Davis’s arms. He’ll have to let Davis know about it in the morning after a good night’s rest.


	20. Emperor's Understanding

Davis woke up the next day to loud banging on the house door. He flinched when his head started throbbing and he brought a hand up to it in hopes of calming it. With combination of both crying and the nightmare he had last night, he had obtained a massive headache. Now there was also someone banging on the front door.

“Ughh.” Davis groaned as he moved DemiVeemon out of the way and rolled off the bed. He growled when he landed on an abandoned book. Today was not going to be a fun day and he could tell.

Davis stood up and grabbed his digivice. When the banging continued the boy headed downstairs with a huff and headed to the front door. By the time he got there the banging had stopped but now he could hear some arguing from beyond. He glared angrily at the door as if it was the source of the voices itself before he yanked it open to prepare to yell at the people who would do this to him this early in the morning.

“I’m telling you this is the place Boss.” Koromon whined from Marcus’s arms.

“And I’m telling you it probably isn’t!” Marcus argued. He was wearing the clothes Davis first saw him wearing in the Digital World and his backpack was hanging off his shoulders. “How can you even tell anyways? The houses all look the same!”

“Hey don’t be so mean to the houses like that!”

“What? Their houses!”

“I’m closing the door now.” Davis sighed. Marcus and Koromon looked over at Davis in shock.

“Yo! Dai!” Marcus greeted with an awkward laugh. “You got a minute?”

Davis pulled out his Digivice and looked at the screen, “Well considering its three a.m. in the morning, I may be able to cut you some time.”

“Sorry.” Marcus gave an apologetic smile as Davis let him in.

Davis closed the door and headed to the couch in the living room before landing on it with a tired thud. Marcus took a seat with Koromon on the chair nearby.

“It’s fine.” Davis sighed as he waved a hand. “Mind telling my why you’re here at my house so early?”

“About that.” Marcus tone suddenly became serious and Davis looked up to see Marcus’s face becoming one of complete seriousness. “It was about yesterday.”

Davis flinched as he rolled onto his side away from Marcus, “Look, I’m not willing to talk about it.”

“Yeah that much I know.”

“Then why bring it up?”

“Boss and I want to let you know something.” Koromon spoke up.

“If it’s about running away isn’t the answer then I don’t want to hear it.” Davis snapped. He didn’t want to be lectured about being nice is the way to go. How he was a coward for running away. Or probably worse, that a leader didn’t do any of that.

“That’s not what I’m saying!” Marcus snapped back before sighing. “Look I know what you’re going through.”

Davis turned back to glare at Marcus, “How could you possibly know how I feel?”

“I mean I don’t know all the details.” Marcus paused. “But I remember feeling hurt before by a friend of mine as well. Weird thing is he has blonde hair and blue eyes like ummm…” Marcus paused again. “Person you know.”

“Acquaintance?” Davis couldn’t help but snicker at that.

“Yeah!” Marcus snapped his finger. “But anyway. I got into a really nasty fight with the guy and it well…”

“It caused me to Dark Digivolve.” Koromon piped up again.

“What?” Davis asked.

“I let my anger get the best of me and it caused a whole lot of trouble. Not just for myself, but for Thomas and Koromon as well.” Marcus sighed as he placed his hand on his chin. “Koromon even went back to being a digiegg.”

“He did?”

“Yep.” Koromon nodded. “I went back to being a digiegg. The thing is though when a Digimon reverts back to a digiegg, they may lose their memories and become a completely different Digimon.”

“They what?” Davis nearly fell off the couch.

“You didn’t know that?” Marcus asked.

“Well obviously!” Davis snapped. Wouldn’t that mean Wormmon may have not remember Ken, causing the blue haired boy not to enter the fight? Is it possible that Elecmon could have woken up with no memories at all of Jeri? “But you’re serious about what happened?”

“Why would we lie about it?” Koromon asked.

“I know.” Davis sighed as he brought his hands to his face. “But why tell me this?”

“You’re supposed to be the smart one between us.” Marcus laughed. “I just thought that maybe knowing that what happened between me and Thomas might help out between you and ummm. T.L?”

Davis couldn’t help but laugh and fall off the couch at that. He was really the only person who ever spoke T.K’s name wrong so when he heard Marcus do it himself, it was sort of a relief and humorous to the boy at the same time.

Marcus glared and he just threw Koromon at the laughing boy.

“Ow!” Both Koromon and Davis yelped at once.

“Boss why did you throw me?” Koromon whined.

“There is a pillow right by you! Why didn’t you use that?” Davis joined.

“Must have slipped my mind.” Marcus did a confident smirk as he joined the two on the floor. “So how about it? Make you feel any better?”

“Hmmm.” Davis hummed for a moment. It was reassuring that someone else also messed up for anger, but the memories of what happened afterward was not going to get better from just that. “A little, but not completely.”

“Really?” Marcus groaned.

“You’re bad at comforting people Boss.” Koromon teased.

“Quiet you!” Marcus grabbed the pillow from the chair and threw it at Koromon before turning back to Davis. “Hey though. I’ve been angry like that too. I may not know what happened, but I’m willing to listen. So is Koromon here, even though he looks like he doesn’t half the time.”

“Hey!”

Davis smiled at both Marcus and Koromon. It was reassuring that there was someone who could at least understand the beginnings of Davis’s problems. Not to mention he was getting to know the hot headed boy better.

“Oh and hey.” Marcus patted Davis on the back. “If T.L does anything to upset you, let me know.”

“Yeah! Boss and I will thrash him!” Koromon cheered.

“Thanks guys. But just scare him will you? Rather you not get in trouble for something like that.” Davis laughed. As soon as a beep was heard, the boys looked at their digivices. The Emperor Social Link had reached level 3.

“Oh hey. Last night was another Midnight E-Mail.” Koromon spoke.

“That means…” Davis sighed.

“Yeah. Another target.” Marcus blew his bangs. “I don’t know who, but it looks like we have to find out if we can save them. Plus the message was really weird this time.”

“Weird?” Davis asked before sighing and climbing back onto the couch. “Never mind. It may be best if we discuss this with Jeri after school today. Maybe get some training in too while we’re at it.”

“Good plan!” Koromon hopped on top of Davis stomach.

“Well then I’m going to take a nap. I didn’t get any sleep before coming over.” Marcus flopped onto the chair, his emerald eyes beginning to close.

“At my place?’ Davis asked.

“Mmm. Why not? I’m here.”

“But…” Davis was cut off by the snoring of Koromon on top of him. Realizing he couldn’t win Davis just shook his head and closed his eyes in defeat. “Fine. I don’t think I could stop you even if I tried.”

“That’s the first lesson everyone learns.”

Davis snorted at Marcus comment. He just rolled over, taking extra care not to throw Koromon off him, and let the older boy have this victory for now. He gave a content sigh as he stared at his digivice one more time before setting it on the stand nearby and closing his eyes again. Though the nightmare passed through his mind a bit, it was definitely less hurtful then before.


	21. Confrontation

“Daisuke!” A small voice called. Davis blinked a few times to find Akiko staring straight into his face.

“AHH!” Davis leapt back in shock. He grabbed his chest to still his rapid heartbeat and calmed down when he realized that it was just his cousin.

“You ok there?” Marcus chuckled from his spot sitting on the chair. Davis wondered why he was there for a bit before remembering the events of last night or this morning.

“Would have been better with uninterrupted sleep.” Davis pouted sitting up straight. “What time is it anyways?”

“Ummm. I think it’s like 7:30?” Akiko mumbled.

“What?!” Davis leapt to his feet and rushed into his room.

“What’s up with him?” Marcus asked.

“School starts at 8:00 doesn’t it?” Akiko suggested.

“Ah!” It was Marcus’s turn to leap to his feet and rush to the bathroom with his backpack.

“Boys are weird.” Akiko mumbled before going into the kitchen to grab a snack.

“Dai?” DemiVeemon asked sleepily from where he lay face down on the floor.

“Got to get dressed!” Davis hurried as he rushed over to where his school clothes laid abandoned on the floor and quickly began putting them on. “School. Is going to start soon!”

“Dai!” Marcus slammed open the door just as Davis had put DemiVeemon in his backpack. “Come on or we’ll be late!”

“Why is Marcus here?” DemiVeemon asked confusedly.

“No time!” Marcus growled as he grabbed Davis and dragged him out of the room.

“Akiko. You ready?” Davis asked when they stopped by the door.

“Yep! Yep!” Akiko smiled as she skipped over to the two. Marcus nodded his head before carrying on and dragging Davis out the door.

“Hey! Stop dragging me!” Davis yelped when he felt cold rain hit his head. “And let’s grab my umbrella ok?”

“You guys!” Jeri shouted in front of the school gates as the two boys had finally arrived. It was still five minutes until the first bell rang. Her attention was on Davis in an instant. “Are you ok?”

“Y-yeah. I’m fine.” Davis gave a smile to further the point. “Just… You know…”

“I understand.” Jeri grabbed Davis’s hand in her own and smile brightly at him. “You don’t want to talk about it. I know. I’ve had that feeling too at one point. I’ll give you space so you can get your thoughts sorted out.” Then she glared. “But the moment you start going angsty again, I will get you to work at my store.”

“How is that supposed to threaten me?”

“Remember what Helena and I were talking about?”

“Threat has been duly noted and I will not become angsty again!” Davis did a salute.

“Wait. What’s going on?” Koromon asked.

“Well you see…” Jeri began but all of a sudden the bell rang.

“Saved by the bell!” Davis rejoiced as he grabbed Jeri’s wrist and began dragging her to class. “See you at lunch Marcus!”

Marcus pouted. He really wanted to know what the threat was just for a good laugh. He sighed in defeat as he headed to his own class. Man he was going to be thinking about it all day.

Davis gulped when he entered the classroom and saw T.K sitting in his seat.

 _“Looks like Mr. Perfect is punctual as always.”_ Davis thought but soon shut it down. He couldn’t get angry and run away to calm down again. They had a job to do after school today. So, no matter how much anger flared in him, he had to ignore it and T.K if he wanted to save whoever was on the Midnight E-Mail.

“Davis.” Jeri poked the boy’s face and Davis suddenly realized he had been standing at the door for quite a while. He gave a sheepish smile before going to his seat with Jeri. They of coursed struck up the usual chatter.

Soon lunch rolled around and Davis was about to follow Jeri when she went out to meet with Marcus when he heard someone call his name.

“Davis!”

T.K. Of course it had to be T.K. Davis gritted his teeth. Didn’t the boy understand the words ‘leave me alone’ mean? Davis sighed as he didn’t turn around.

“What?” Davis responded in the least bitter tone he could muster.

“I was really hoping we could talk.” T.K answered. Davis noted his voice was a lot firmer then it was yesterday.

“About what?”

“Davis we’ve been waiting…” Jeri began but stopped when she entered the classroom.

“Oh sorry.” T.K apologized. “I was hoping if I could talk to Davis for a little bit.”

Jeri looked over to Davis who was trying his best not to snap about not having his permission yet.

“If only if Davis is ok with it.” Jeri frowned over to T.K. “If he doesn’t want to talk to you though, you should respect that.”

“Huh? Uh. Of course.” T.K nodded as he turned over to Davis. “So umm…”

“Fine.” Davis spat. He knew whatever T.K wanted to talk about must at least be somewhat important if he was still going to bug Davis. “But we talk where I want to talk.”

“Sure.” T.K nodded his head in agreement.

“Will you still be up for after school?” Jeri asked as Davis passed by her.

“Yeah. I mean I kind of have to be.” Davis smiled. “Got to get it done you know.”

“Right. I’ll go tell Marcus!” Jeri gave him one last concerned look before speeding over to the soccer field where Marcus was waiting.

“Come on.” Davis growled at the silent T.K who jumped at Davis’s words.

Davis turned and grabbed his backpack. If DemiVeemon was there, he may be able to keep his cool. Davis soon walked quickly out of the classroom and up the stairs. He heard T.K walking behind him as the climbed up the third set of stairs. The school had a roof that was perfect for private chatter. He opened the door and stepped out into the sun.

“Ok.” Davis turned and sat down, finally looking at T.K for the first time today. “What is it you want?”

“I wanted to talk about what happened… you know. On the last day of Jr. High.” T.K answered.

Davis tensed, “What’s there to talk about? It’s a pretty straightforward thing.”

“Well the beginning is anyways.” T.K sighed. This was harder then he thought. “But what happened after is what isn’t.”

“Seems pretty simple to everyone else.” Davis growled. “I beat you up, the others get mad at me. That’s it.”

“Maybe it is to them but…” T.K sighed. “What about you?”

Davis opened his mouth and quickly shut it. Why did T.K care so much? Why was he coming up to Davis and wanting to talk about this.

“Why?” Davis finally asked. “Why do you care?”

“W-what?” T.K looked taken aback. “Well why not?”

“Why not?” Davis growled as he stood up. “You have everything already, everyone protecting you! You shouldn’t have to worry about anything else! You don’t have to worry about me anymore since everyone hates me now!”

“I don’t ha-“ T.K was interrupted.

“Don’t give me that! Everyone loves you T.K! They treat you like the prince of all princes and completely ignore me. Even if it was you at fault, they’d blame me first and when the figure out it was you in the end you wouldn’t even get a third of the scolding I get!” Davis growled. “They don’t care if you were the one who crossed the line. It only matters that I hit you! Nothing else!”

“Davis that’s not true!” T.K argued.

“Is it really?” Davis stepped dangerously close to T.K. The blonde felt his breath hitch as he looked in Davis’s eyes to see tears coming down them. “The only one who really talked to me afterward was Iori, and that’s it.”

T.K looked down. He knew what Davis was saying was true. He heard it from Hikari himself. That she and Miyako weren’t going to talk to Davis anymore unless he apologized to T.K and soon some of the others agreed to do it as well.

“Then why didn’t you just apologize.” T.K asked.

“Why should I have?” Davis shouted. T.K flinched. “I wasn’t regretful for it. I’m still not. No matter how much you and the others try to make me feel regretful about it, I won’t.”

T.K looked down. Anger was beginning to bubble up inside his heart and he had to push it down. He couldn’t pick another fight with Davis right now. No matter how much the boy’s words taunted him to do so.

“Then why aren’t you regretful?” T.K asked, still not looking up at Davis.

Davis took a step back and turned around, “Why should I tell you? I’m pretty sure you can figure it out yourself.”

“Why can’t you just tell me?” T.K finally looked up and glared at Davis.

Davis spun back around again, his face was contorted in rage as he stepped forward again.

“Because you’re the one who ruined it all. Since the very beginning.” Davis growled.

“It? Beginning?”

“I told you straight to your face before.”

 _“Told me before…? Wait was it when…”_ T.K’s thoughts were interrupted when the lunch bell had rung. Davis looked away and walked over and grabbed his backpack.

“Don’t talk to me ever again T.K.” Davis whispered. “I don’t want to deal with any of this anymore.”

“Da-“ T.K began but Davis was already at the stair door and slammed it shut once he entered.

 _“Stupid blonde.”_ Davis thought angrily as he rushed down the stairs. He felt his face and sighed when he found the tears. _“I don’t like thinking or talking about what happened. Why can’t he just understand that and leave me alone?”_

Davis took his sleeve as he quickly descended the halls and wiped his tears away. He didn’t want the others to see him like this. Though he was glad that he didn’t have to wipe off any of T.K’s blood off of him. Yeah, they would really worry then.

“Davis!” Jeri called as Davis approached his classroom. She gasped when she saw his eyes. “What happened?”

“Just…” Davis sighed.

“Mmm.” Jeri pouted. “Ok. That’s it cancel today’s search.”

“What?” Davis asked. “Hold on we can’t do that! We have to find the next target!”

“I agree with Jeri’s plan.” DemiVeemon piped up from the backpack. “I think its best that we can get your mind off things for now.”

“That doesn’t mean we should just ignore the case right now!”

“We have no clue who was on the Midnight E-mail though.” Elecmon pointed out. “For all we know they could be on the other side of town in a school we don’t even know about. Without any leads, we would only exhaust ourselves.”

“Fine.” Davis mumbled. “We’ll do something else, but what?”

“Hmm.” Jeri hummed a bit before her eyes widened. “We could train today!” Then her cheeks puffed. “If I remember correctly you found out a way to sneak my sword in?”

“It is a practical thing to do. And yes I did.” Davis smiled triumphantly. “It’s best on rainy days too, which it is today as well.”

“Sweet. We’ll have to stop by my place to grab Marcus’s coat so we can hide the sword.”

“If the school is as lenient with new students here as the stores are with swords, I think we won’t have a hard time sneaking a sword in.” Elecmon snorted.

“Katou! Motomiya! Get to class!” A passing teacher yelled.

“Yes sir!” They both yelped as they rushed inside their classroom giggling all the while.

School was over in a flash and Davis and Jeri headed off to do whatever. T.K watched as they walked out the door eagerly talking about what to do next. T.K sighed as he picked up his backpack and headed out the door, the talk he had with Davis confusing him immensely.

What was the whole ‘it’ thing? What did T.K ruin? He had felt so angry at Davis but as soon as Davis had said he ruined something and that he ruined it from the beginning, it all ebbed and it was soon replaced by confusion and guilt rushing up again. It was weird of why he should feel guilty when he was the victim, but now he felt guilty for the anger as well. It was weird due to the fact that he never felt guilty when he was bullied when he was a kid. So why did he feel so guilty over upsetting Davis so much?

 _“He was crying? When does he ever cry? I made him cry.”_ T.K shook his head of those thoughts and continued on his way home. Not up to doing anything else for the day.

“Ugh. Training.” Davis sighed as he entered the Mochida household. “I thought it was just going to be a fun exercise. I really need to stop forgetting Marcus and Agumon take it so seriously.” He heard a snicker from his backpack. “Quiet you!”

 _“Oh no. I’m beginning to sound like Marcus too!”_ Davis panicked and, from the continuous snickers, DemiVeemon was thinking the exact thing.

“Daisuke!” Akiko greeted.

“Ah that’s Daisuke!” A blonde girl around Akiko’s age piped up from where she sat beside Akiko in front of the T.V.

“Hello?” Davis ruffled Akiko’s hair and then waved to the blonde.

“Daisuke! This is my friend Rin! She’s spending the night.” Akiko cheered happily as she pushed the shorter blonde haired girl over to Daisuke.

“Hiya!” Rin greeted.

“It’s nice to meet you Rin.” Davis responded.

“Daisuke! Daisuke! Can we play with DemiVeemon?” Akiko begged as she gripped Davis’s pants’ leg and looked up at him with puppy dog eyes.

“Yah! Can we Mister Daisuke?” Rin smiled up at Davis.

“Of course.” Davis smiled evilly as he pulled DemiVeemon out of his backpack. DemiVeemon gave him a terrified look as if Davis was the most evil thing in the world. Davis’s smile just grew wider before he handed DemiVeemon over. “Plus he hasn’t done anything all day so you don’t have to worry about holding back.”

“Yay!” Rin and Akiko cheered as they began playing with DemiVeemon about their previous adventure at school. Davis chuckled as he headed over to the kitchen and turned on the stove. Considering that their wasn’t a mess at all, Akiko didn’t have dinner yet.

“Hey Daisuke!” Akiko called rushing into the kitchen. She gave a smile when Davis looked down at her. “Do you want to play with us?”

“Will Rin be ok with that?” Davis asked.

“Of course I will!” Rin smiled as she tossed DemiVeemon into the air and caught him. “Hey will ya play house?”

“Uh…” Davis looked between the two young girls looking up at him with expectant eyes. He couldn’t say no to those faces. “Ok. I’ll do house.”

“Yes! Ok Davis is going to be the older sister!”

“Hold up! Why can’t I be the older brother?”

After a good amount of debating over rules of who was who and actually doing the playing, Rin had rushed off to the bathroom to take a bath after Akiko did before heading to bed.

“Thanks for playing with us Daisuke!” Akiko thanked.

“Hmm? No problem.” Davis smiled as he landed on the couch beside Akiko. “Looks like you and Rin are good friends.”

“Yeah.” Akiko did a small smile. “I’m really thankful to have her.”

“That’s good.” Davis mumbled.

“She helped me against the bullies last year.” Akiko whispered. Davis turned his head over to her, to let her know she had her complete attention. “I was being picked on and Rin was the new student at school. Just came from one of the lonelier sides of town.” Akiko smiled fondly when the memory floated into her mind. “As soon as she saw the boys picking on me she rushed straight over and scared them off. Saying ‘That’s no way to treat a fella classmate!’. They got so scared that they ran away.”

“You’ve guys been friends ever since then?” Davis asked.

Akiko nodded happily, “Yep. We then met Kaiyo after that and we all just stayed together. It’s thanks to them that I don’t feel as lonely anymore.” Her eyes widened. “Oh and you and Demi also! You guys also make me feel less lonely.”

Davis watched the girl sadly as she played with DemiVeemon. She was being bullied at least since the first grade. Davis knew what bulling was like. Though didn’t have it nearly as bad as his little cousin, who was beaten up by just two kids and seemed to have the whole school against her at times. Having the whole world against you can really suck, and Davis could at least sympathize with his younger cousin.

When he heard a beep he brought his digivice to his face to see that the Hermit Social Link has reached level 2. He smiled faintly as he ruffled Akiko’s hair. He was glad to be getting closer to his cousin. He guessed the whole ‘only making bonds for power’ theory had been thrown out the window if considering his whole friendship with his schoolmates didn’t already do that.

“Ok! Aki!” Rin smiled over to the girl. “Let’s hit the hay!”

“Ok. Night Daisuke!” Akiko handed Davis DemiVeemon before running and giggling with Rin to her room.

“Daisuke!” DemiVeemon growled as he rubbed his back. “Man. I was already hurting from training and then you told them to go all out! And then you were so mean to me during house!”

“Really? I thought I was being quite merciful.” Davis faked innocence which was soon ruined by an evil laughter.

“Sometimes you can be pretty scary.” DemiVeemon sweat dropped.

Davis just laughed at that as he and DemiVeemon headed to his room. The Midnight E-mail should be appearing again tonight, so it was planned to at least have some relaxation for the next three hours.

“So about what happened on the roof.” DemiVeemon spoke.

Or so Davis thought as he flopped onto the bed.

“I should have seen this coming.” Davis mumbled as he turned to his partner. “Ok. What?”

“Wait. You’re ok with telling me?”

“I mean I’m not in the mood to talk about everything.” Davis flinched about going into detail about it all. Well, he think he would have a tough time expressing it at the least, even if he wanted to tell DemiVeemon about it. “But you know, I can change my mind about talking at all.”

“No!” DemiVeemon all but shouted at that. “I mean no. Just tell me what you feel comfortable with.”

“Well umm…” Davis sighed. In all honesty he wasn’t comfortable about talking about it at all, but DemiVeemon did have at least some idea of what was going on and that would make it somewhat easier. “I had a fight with T.K. And not like the ones we had when you were around. Like an all-out fist fight.”

“What caused you to fight T.K?” DemiVeemon asked.

“He just… touched a nerve is all.” Davis answered. DemiVeemon nodded his head as if knowing what nerve was hit. _“He probably does.”_

“What happened after that? I mean you did run to the bathroom as soon as T.K arrived.”

“Everyone….” Davis turned away. “Everyone started to hate me.”

“What!?”

“I mean I can get why but…” Davis choked a bit there. “Hey can we stop here? I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

DemiVeemon glared a little bit, but it soon softened as he nodded his head and agreed. He could pick up the rest from there and that’s all he really needed. Plus he would comfort Davis when the boy needed it. Speaking of which…

“Ow!” Davis yelped when DemiVeemon landed on his head. “What was that for?”

“Hey! I’m just trying to hug you!” DemiVeemon pouted as he put his tiny arms around Davis’s cheeks.

“This is more like sitting on me.”

“How else am I supposed to hug you?”

“Oh I don’t know, like around the waist?”

“With these arms?” DemiVeemon flailed his arms in front of Davis to emphasize the point. “Are you kidding me?”

“Touché.” Davis laughed as he grabbed DemiVeemon and pulled him in for a hug. “But at least give me a warning when you do that.”

“I don’t know…”

“Ok. Then you can cook for yourself.”

“No! Daisuke!”

_Beep._

“Ah!” Davis sat up and pulled his laptop to his bed. “Another e-mail.”

“Open it!” DemiVeemon chanted.

Davis nodded his head as he opened the e-mail. The same fuzzy yellow background appeared again with a hazy silhouette. Davis squinted his eyes to find as many details he possibly could. Ok. So it’s a dude, by the looks of it, his about Davis’s age, the uniform also looking the same as Davis’s. The boy seemed to wiping at his eyes as if to stop tears from flowing down his face and in one of his hands he tightly held a hat. Soon it faded before Davis could catch anything else and the letters appeared once again.

_Can you guess who it is already?_

_And if you have,_

_What will you do?_

_Will you save the boy or,_

_Will you leave him to die once he enters this world?_

_Will your emotions cloud your judgement?_

_Can’t wait to see your reactions once he is in here._

_D.M,_

_M.D,_

_Jeri Katou,_

_T.T._

“They are really starting to get on my nerves.” DemiVeemon growled. “And look. New initials.”

Davis stared blankly at the screen for a moment. The figure looked way to familiar. It had to be someone he knew. But who? He blinked when the blonde he talked to toady popped into his head.

“I-I think I know….” Davis whispered.

“What did you say Dai?” DemiVeemon asked.

Davis shook his head, “Nothing. Just saying me too.”

“I wish the image was clearer all I can tell is that it’s a boy in high school.”

“Yeah. We should probably look around school tomorrow to see if anyone matches what we’ve got so far.”

DemiVeemon sighed as the two settled into bed, “Let’s just hope we can find the guy so we can protect him.”

“Yeah.” Davis gave a smiled before turning off the light and heading into his bed. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

 _“Plus, it couldn’t be T.K right? I mean, T.K never cries.”_ Davis thought as he closed his eyes and letting his breathing fall in place with the now sleeping DemiVeemon.


	22. A Day in the Park

“Daisuke!” Helena yelled into the phone the next morning.

“Ugh. What now?” Davis groaned in response where he lay in bed. DemiVeemon looked curiously at him, hearing the yelling from where he was sitting on the opposite side of Davis’s bed.

“I’ve been waiting for a while now and we haven’t gone anywhere!”

“Yeah are you being so impatient about this?”

“Wouldn’t you be if you had been stuck in a blue carriage all day with nothing but a long nosed man to talk too and even he doesn’t talk unless you’re in here.”

“Is that really my problem?”

“You promised.”

Davis sighed. He could just imagine the pout on his end of the receiver. She was going to be stubborn about this all day. Wait… What if she went to school just to get him to drag her somewhere?

_“Hold on Motomiya. It’s not like she knows where my school is.”_ Davis relaxed.

“Daisuke!”

“Alright. If it stops you from killing my ears.”

“Great. How about after school?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Davis sighed as he finally hung up the phone.

“Come on. You’re excited for it.” DemiVeemon smirked.

“The day I’m excited for when she calls my phone and makes my ears bleed, is the day you become adorable.”

“So, you already are excited?”

“Where do you get your ego from?” Davis asked as he jumped off the bed and grabbed his uniform.

“Well I got it from this guy with spiky brown hair that goes on adventures through the Digital World. I think you know him quite well.”

Davis made a fake questioning face, “Taichi?”

“Yes Daisuke. I get it from the guy I hadn’t hanged out with that much, and not from my partner who I live with and influenced by.”

“Really? Man who would have thought that.” Davis gave a final smile as he rushed to the bathroom to dodge the pillow that was thrown at him.

“Ah. So Helena wants you today?” Marcus asked as the three ate at the top of the roof during lunch. Davis had figured it was the perfect place to have lunch since he heard a former gang member used to eat up here two years ago with some of his friends so some kids were scared to go up here to eat. And the fact that he still went to this school also scared the rest of the student body from the roof. Plus T.K seemed to have gotten the message and is finally leaving Davis alone and avoiding him.

_“Good. I can finally go back to what I need to do.”_ Davis thought.

“But we need to investma-something.” Calumon whined, breaking Davis out of his thoughts.

“Yeah I know. But if she gets too mad at me, I bet she won’t tell me more about these.” Davis sighed as he pulled out the Digimon cards. They had gathered quite a lot since their last training session and Davis was starting to run out of room for them. “Not to mention I got some new digivolving cards.”

“So these can change Veemon digivolution?” Jeri asked as she picked up the three cards Davis shoved over. One card had what looked to be an eye trapped in a cage, another with a crescent moon on it, and then a man in a chariot that was pulled by two lions.

“Why haven’t you swiped them yet?” Agumon asked.

“Every time I swipe one of these cards, DemiVeemon automatically digivolves into the form, and I’d rather not have something as big as GeoGreymon in my room, assuming I’d still have a room after that.” Davis sighed taking back the three cards.

“How come Jeri and Marcus don’t receive any cards?” Elecmon asked. “I know the cards seem to always end up with you one way or another, but I’m positive that they could possibly make us go to another digivolution.”

“Hmm.” Davis hummed in thought. “Well we never really tried to see if the cards work with the other digivices or if some don’t work with mine. We may need to try it out.”

“So tomorrow then?” DemiVeemon asked. “Theirs’s no clubs and I think Helena would be satisfied with today so I think we’re free to do other stuff.”

“Sorry to dump this on you, but can you guys investigate for today?” Davis asked.

“No problem!” Marcus punched his fist. “Agumon and I’ll be sure to get as much info as we can!”

“And I’m pretty sure a lot of students come over to grab a bite to eat every once in a while at my tavern, so I might be able to get some information out of them.” Jeri nodded her head in determination.

“Oh. Oh! And I can fly around the sky looking for who may be on the video.” Calumon cheered.

“Ok. Just be careful.” Davis teased over at Marcus and Agumon. “I’d rather not bail you out of jail with the money we get by defeating Shadow Digimon.”

“Hey!” Marcus and Agumon yelled.

“Yeah do they drop money anyway? It’s not like this is a video game or something.” Jeri whispered over to Elecmon.

“Who knows? Digimon in our world don’t even use any human currency.” Elecmon whispered back.

“Daisuke!” Helena called at the gate.

“Ah!” Davis gasped as the girl came running up and grabbing him by the hand.

“I can’t believe you had to make me wait so long!” Helena pouted.

_“How did she find my school?”_ Davis thought.

“It’s school Helena! I can’t just ditch it! Well I could…”

Helena had huffed away from Davis, “Anyways, where is your friend Jeri? And it seems DemiVeemon isn’t with you.”

“How do you know?” Davis asked shocked. He had sent DemiVeemon with Marcus and Agumon to make sure the two didn’t do anything reckless. But now that he thought about it, DemiVeemon might actually make things worse in certain situations.

“Your shoulders aren’t as pushed down now that the little lizard is gone, meaning his out of the backpack, and he doesn’t like being in the digivice so you don’t put him in it.”

“How do you know all that?” Davis asked taking a quick observation of his shoulders.

“It’s my job as your attendant to know about you.” Helena informed as she began dragging Davis away from the school, some of the students watching curiously.

“Yeah. But that’s like stalker levels.” Davis argued. “Which, by the way, is incredibly creepy. What else do you know about me?”

“A lot.”

“That is not comforting.”

“Anyways.” Helena turned around and looked up at the taller boy. “Where we going today?”

“You mean you don’t even have an idea on where to go?” Davis deadpanned.

“Last time I checked I don’t live in this town.”

“Right you live in between dream and reality, mind and matter.” Davis did a mocking tone.

“Are you mocking me?” Helena glared.

“Oh no. I was totally using my ‘totally non-mocking tone’ there.” Davis replied sarcastically.

Helena frowned as she turned and stomped along the Samagawa. Davis waited a couple of seconds before she came stomping back.

“You have no idea where to go do you?”

“….. Shut up.” Helena pouted. Davis laughed as he waved a hand for Helena to follow. The short girl complied as she followed Davis over to the park.

“What’s this?” Helena asked looking at all the school equipment.

“A park.” Davis answered, shocked. “You’ve never been to a park before?”

“Never.” Helena said with a straight tone, but from the way she was rushing over to the equipment. Davis couldn’t help but laugh. Though she was trying to act cool, her face gave signs she was truly excited to be here.

“So she really never left that carriage before.” Davis muttered. “Wait does that mean she was born there?”

“Daisuke what is that?” Helena asked pointing to the swings.

“Swings.”

“And that?”

“A slide.”

“And that?”

“That’s the monkey bars. And those are the teeter totters while that is the sand pit.” Davis answered in annoyance. He knew the girl had never seen a park before, but the constant questions were starting to get on his nerves. “If you want to ask so many questions about the park why don’t you play on the equipment to find out about it all?”

“Play on it?” Helena asked.

“Yeah see.” Davis pointed to a couple of kids on the swings as the swung back and forth with cheers of excitement. “Like that.”

“I see.” Helena mumbled before going off to the teeter totters. Davis watched in horror as she swung her legs and flew off the playground equipment and falling into the sand. “Ow.”

“What was that?” Davis laughed as he helped the girl up. “Seriously. What was that?”

Helena glared at Davis as she dusted off her blue dress. Davis had to stifle his laughter from the blush covering her face. Oh how she was not going to live this down.

“Excuse me. You were the one who told me to play like those children.” Helena crossed her arms as if to defend herself.

“Yeah I did. But if you had thought twice they were on swings, not the teeter totters.” Davis smirked. “It should have been obvious on simple observation of the children’s behavior on the teeter totters.”

Helena turned her head away in anger, “I just trusted your word.”

“You shouldn’t have taken it that seriously though.” Davis sighed. “How old are you again? Twelve?”

“I’m sixteen.” Helena’s yellow eyes were glaring at Davis again.

“You could have fooled me.”

Davis looked at her pig tails, her puffing cheeks, and the fact she barely reached Davis’s chest. Yep. Definitely looked like a twelve year old.

“You are not funny Motomiya.” Helena pouted.

“Hey it’s not my fault you look like a Loli.” Davis defended.

Helena gave him a confused look, “Loli?”

_“Not going to step on that land mine.”_ Davis thought as he sat at the end of the teeter totter and pointed to the other end.

“What are you doing?” Helena asked.

“Teaching you how to use the teeter totter.” Davis answered. “Now get on.”

Helena nodded as she uncrossed her arms as she hopped onto the other side. Davis smiled as he used his legs to push his side of the teeter totter upward. Helena’s eyes widened for a moment when she suddenly went down, and how they started to fill with panic when, due to Davis being heavier then Helena, went back up and nearly falling off.

“Ahh!” Helena gasped in horror as Davis pushed the equipment up again and when it came back down again. “So that’s how it works.”

“Yeah. Fun right?” Davis asked. Smiling slightly at how excited Helena looked.

“Can we try the rest of the stuff?” Helena asked jumping down.

“Yeah sure.” Davis answered as he got up and was soon being dragged to the monkey bars. “Not if you keep pulling my arms!”

“I just want to have as much fun as I can before having to go back to that carriage.” Helena smiled over to Davis.

“Fine, fine. Let’s go.” Davis sighed as he followed Helena to the swings.

_“Maybe I should escort her more often. She looks so much happier when I do.”_ Davis thought with a smile.

He heard a beep and checked his digivice to check that what it had to tell him, though he already had a feeling. He smiled when he saw that the Chariot Social Link had reached level 2. Ok, he definitely had to go out with Helena more often. Maybe invite the others as well.

“Hurry up Daisuke!” Helena yelled over from the monkey bars. Davis, realizing he had stopped, rushed over before Helena could do anything to hurt herself.

 

 

_Meanwhile…_

“Takeru honey.” Miss Takeshi said to her son who had arrived home from school laid down on the couch, and who was now watching the T.V with a blank expression.

“Mmm.” Takeru responded, seeming to snap out of the blank stare to look at his mom. “Sorry. What do you need?”

“I was hoping you could do some grocery shopping for me.” She paused looking over at her son. “But it seems you aren’t up to it.”

“No. I can do it.” T.K jumped up from the couch and smiled brightly up at his mother. She squinted her eyes. “Just give me the money and I’ll go buy what you need.”

“You sure? You’ve been acting strangely since yesterday?”

“Yep! Come on Mom, are you saying I’m weird?” T.K gave a fake hurt expression. The older Takeshi gave a sigh as she pulled her wallet out and handed T.K some money and a grocery list. T.K smiled, snatched it, and rushed out the door with a quick goodbye.

After he closed it he gave out a sigh of relief. He loved his mom, and he rather not her worry about him. If she got worried about what he said, she would call Yamato, and if she called Yamato and told him what he told her, then things would get uglier than they already were between him and Davis. Plus he didn’t want to depend on the others anymore. They already were to overprotective as it was. He wanted to make things right with Davis on his own terms and not have the others butting in and making it worse.

_“Not that I hate them, I love them. It’s just they tend to do things for me.”_ T.K thought with a sigh as he pushed off the door and began walking to the grocery store.

He felt himself bump into someone when he was about to enter the store and he fell down with an oomph. He blinked as he rubbed his head and looked up to see a long haired brunette looking down at him with a confused stare.

“Ah. Your T.J right?” The boy asked as T.K stood up and dusted himself off.

T.K looked up at him with a startled look, “Uh. Close T.K. And your Marcus right?”

“Ah sorry about that.” Marcus laughed. “And yeah. I’m Marcus Damon.”

“Did somebody call me that?” T.K asked hopefully.

“Hm? No. I just heard your name and mixed it up.” Marcus asked and then he glared. “Why do you care?”

“Huh? Well I was just wondering.” T.K lied as he rubbed the back of his head.

Marcus stopped glaring and smiled, “Anyways, I have something to do today so I’ll have to go.”

As Marcus passed by T.K’s eyes widened when he suddenly caught sight of the necklace around Marcus’s neck.

_“Was that a digivice?”_ T.K spun around to call to Marcus but the older boy was already long gone, sprinting down the street. _“If it was, it was nothing I’ve ever seen before. Is something going on?”_

“Is Davis a part of it?” T.K asked to no one in particular. He remembered how Davis had scrambled to hide something before talking to Davis, not to mention he hung around with Marcus a lot so it could be possible that…

_“You ruined it. Since the very beginning.”_

T.K shook his head. No. Davis couldn’t be involved. He would need DemiVeemon and from the way he acted around T.K, he was still upset over him being gone. With that calming him down and a plan to talk to Marcus about his necklace later, he headed into the grocery store.

_“But then again.”_ T.K thought as he walked down the streets, finally finishing his grocery shopping and grumbling how he knew he should have brought an umbrella. It was sunset, raining, and he really needed to head home. _“He didn’t punch me when we started to talk about it. He made extra sure to bring his backpack for some reason and he also wasn’t as bruised as he was back in Odaiba. That could mean DemiVeemon is back and Davis is doing something with Marcus and, possibly, Jeri given how much those two hang out. Of course I could be extremely paranoid and need to stop thinking about Davis.”_

T.K stopped when he saw something fly a little above him. At first he thought it was a toy but when he double checked it was a small white creature lazily floating by, checking back and forth as if looking for something.

“A Digimon?” T.K asked. The white thing’s large ears twitched at the sound. It turned around and looked straight at T.K with wide surprised eyes.

“Uh-oh.” It, he, spoke. “You’re the guy that made Dai sad.”

_“What?”_ T.K thought. “Who’s Dai?”

The creature covered its mouth as if letting out some big secret and turned to fly away.

“Hold up!” T.K called as he dropped his grocery bags and went off to chase the surprisingly fast flying Digimon.

“Um. Can you forget what I said?” The Digimon asked.

“About Dai? Who is he?” T.K asked with his eyes widening. “Are you talking about Davis?”

“N-nope!” The Digimon stuttered before flying over a house. T.K cursed as he did a turn into the alley. He looked up and sighed in defeat as he realized the creature was already incredibly far away.

“Something is going on and Davis is a part of it.” T.K whispered. “But if he is, does that mean he found a way back to the Digital World? Why didn’t he tell us?”

T.K leaned against the wall, sighing in defeat. He saw a flash by him by him, flickering on and off. His eyes widened when he saw the Digital Portal being shown on it. He turned to it and squatted down. He gasped when he saw the green light that indicated it was opened and he pulled out his green gripped digivice and pointed it at the screen. When nothing happened he looked down defeated.

_“I knew I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.”_

Suddenly he felt a chill down his spine and he whipped around, but he was soon blinded by a hand covering his vision and felt himself being pushed back. He brought his arms up but they already felt like they were caught by the other person’s hand. He was about to scream for help when he felt a hand cover his mouth.

_“I can’t feel my body.”_ T.K panicked as he felt his entire body go numb. Suddenly a bright light shown from his eyes when the attacker’s hand finally left his eyes and mouth, but soon it returned to darkness as he felt his conciseness slip away and the sensation of falling was the last thing he could think of when he finally closed his eyes.


	23. Newest Victim

“You find anything out?” Davis asked DemiVeemon once the two had both returned home. Davis sat on his bed rubbing a towel through his wet hair.

“No nothing.” DemiVeemon answered disappointed. “Though when we ran into Calumon he seemed kind of jittery.”

“Isn’t he already jittery?”

“Yeah but more than usual.”

“Then I suppose we’ll have to ask about what happened on his search tomorrow. Knowing him he may spill it before we even have a chance to ask.” Davis smiled fondly as he finished wiping his hair and placed the towel around his neck.

“So how was your day with Helena?”

“Hilarious. You should have seen her reaction when it started raining.” Davis smirked. “Also I figured out more about the digivolution cards. The skill cards and certain Digimon cards, the ones that match the social link I have with them, they can use. However, the digivolution cards only work with me.”

“Why is that?”

“She doesn’t know since apparently we are in a completely unique situation then other guests of that room.”

“Then how does she know all this other stuff?” DemiVeemon pouted.

Davis shrugged, “She said she got this info from Igor, but that long nosed man doesn’t talk much to her so she can’t get much info from him.”

“Yeah I guess. I wish I could go into that weird room with you.” Davis sighed.

“Sorry buddy.” Davis petted DemiVeemon’s head and checked the time on his digivice. “How about we check the Midnight E-mail? It should be arriving around…” _Beep._ “Now.”

“That’s some scary predictions skills.” DemiVeemon commented as Davis brought the computer onto the bed.

“You should see Jeri in class. She can count down exactly when something happens at school.” Davis laughed as he clicked on the video that came with the e-mail and immediately froze.

“I take it…. back…” DemiVeemon gaped as soon as he saw the screen.

_“Umm.. Hi!”_ T.K greeted somewhat shyly from the video. The blonde was wearing a dark green jacket that had lighter green sleeves and tan shorts with green shoes on his feet. Though that wasn’t really the odd thing. He had broken hand cuffs on both his wrists, holding a giant rainbow lollipop in one hand and was closing his hand tightly with the other, and he wore a black and white stripped cap that really clashed with the child like clothes the boy was wearing. Yellow eyes staring with childlike wonder at the screen. Yet it also seemed to hold something else in them that Davis couldn’t tell due it being a bit blurry. It did prove that this was the Shadow though.

_“I’m Takeru Takeshi!”_ Shadow T.K spoke with a smile. He did a little excited twirl with a flourish. _“It’s nice to meet you all.”_

Suddenly tears sprung to the boy’s eyes and he began to cry.

_“Wahh! I’m so scared! Yamato! Taichi! Where are you?”_ He sobbed before wiping the tears away with a smile. _“Oops! Sorry about that. Anyways! I welcome you all to Takeru’s! Ultra! Special! Playground!”_ He waved his arms in excitement. _“This is a place where kids can be kids without any of the adults telling us what to do. And no fighting! No one has to be sad and we can all have a fun time! Now doesn’t that sound like fun?”_

Suddenly he was in tears again.

_“So that way no one has to die! No one has to suffer! Isn’t that just great!?”_ Shadow T.K practically screamed those words out all the while crying with that same smile on his face before wiping those tears away and going back to that cheerful tone. _“Everyone can just be friends and be happy! I hope to see you all here for our next episode.”_

The video went to a weird green static before black words appeared on it.

_Number two has fallen in._

_What will you do?_

_Will you save him?_

_Or leave him to die?_

_Or will your emotions cloud your thoughts?_

_Stop you from doing what you feel like you need to do?_

_Time for another choice;_

_D.M,_

_M.D,_

_Jeri Katou,_

_And ~~T.T~~_

_You have 9 days to decide…_

“W-what?” DemiVeemon stuttered out.

Davis punched the bed, causing DemiVeemon to jump in shock.

“Daisuke!”

“So it’s T.K huh?” Davis whispered. “Of course it’s T.K.”

“Daisuke.”

“No wonder he was asking the whole feelings thing.” Davis growled. “He was talking to me about it.”

“You can’t know that for sure…”

“I can. And I do know.” Davis sighed putting his head in his hands. “I had already suspected as T.K being the next victim, but I just… I just sat by and waited for this to happen.”

“Hey!” DemiVeemon shouted, shocking Davis. “Hey. Look it’s going to be ok. It’s not like we’ll leave him in there to die or something right?”

“R-right.” Davis answered.

“Then we’ll talk about this with the others tomorrow and head out to the Digital World to save him.”

“Ok.” Davis mumbled as he laid down on the bed staring blankly at DemiVeemon. “Just you give the speech about how to accept himself or something ok? Or make Jeri do it.”

“Yeah. Sure.” DemiVeemon watched as Davis nodded and rolled over, facing away from his partner.

_“Daisuke. Why does it upset you so much for T.K to be in there?”_  DemiVeemon thought as he laid down by his partner. They needed to get some rest if they wanted to be ready by tomorrow.

“So T.K is the one that’s in there?” Jeri asked after school. The gang had gathered on the school roof to talk about the news.

“When could he have been kidnapped?” Agumon asked.

“It must have been sometime after we ran into him at the grocery store.” Marcus suggested.

“You ran into him yesterday?” Davis asked.

“Yeah, but only for a brief moment.” DemiVeemon answered before turning his attention to Calumon. “Hey did you see him at all when you were patrolling?”

“U-umm well.” Calumon shifted in Jeri’s arms.

“Calumon. What did you see?” Elecmon asked.

“Was it the culprit?” Jeri asked.

“Um… No..” Calumon winced from the stares he was receiving. “Well… I actually talked to T.K for a bit….”

“You what?” Davis asked in complete shock and outrage. “Didn’t we say not to talk to anybody?”

“Davis calm down.” Jeri said. Davis realizing that Calumon was about to cry lowered his voice and sighed in shame.

“Your right. Sorry Calumon.”

“I-it’s ok. It was my fault anyways.” Calumon smiled. “I just heard somebody say ‘Digimon’ and I thought it was one of you guys, so I turned around and he was staring up at me.”

“What happened afterwards?” Marcus asked.

“Well I said something and then I ran away. When I turned around he was chasing me. So I tried to lose him. Um…” Calumon paused and looked over at Davis. “You promise you won’t be mad?”

Davis nodded, “I promise.”

“Well, I happened to say Dai and T.K was wondering if that was you.” Calumon yelped and flew behind Jeri when he saw Davis’s eye twitch.

“No it’s fine.” Davis lied as he opened and closed his fists. Though he wouldn’t blame Calumon for it. The little Digimon probably didn’t know any better, plus it wasn’t like Davis didn’t stick his foot in his mouth from time to time. “What happened after that?”

“I lost him.” Calumon stated. “I went back just in case but by then he was already gone.”

“So he must have been kidnapped a little after Calumon was able to escape him.” Elecmon observed.

“Then we should head to the Digital World right away. We only have nine days to save him.” DemiVeemon declared.

“Right let’s head out.” Davis agreed, standing up. The others followed suit and headed straight to the Department store.

“Ow!” Marcus groaned as the group, minus Davis and Veemon, landed in a dog pile on the floor of the dark and empty playground. “Ugh! Why does this always happen when we come here?”

“How do you two do it?” Agumon asked as he stared at unharmed Davis and Veemon.

“Practice.” Davis simply said as he looked around.

“Trust us, we had to learn how to this if we didn’t want to crash every time we returned from the Digital World.” Veemon smiled giving a quick glance to Davis.

“Yeah. One time we landed on some brownies.” Davis smiled sadly. “Koshiro and Miyako were super mad at us.”

Davis fell silent for a moment looking at the ground. Jeri exchanged glances with Marcus before running up to Davis and grabbing his shoulder.

“Hey are you ok?” Jeri asked.

“Yeah I’m fine.” Davis looked up and smiled, but this time a bit brighter. “How about we go and save him so we can get home?”

“Ok! And we can eat back at Jeri’s house!” Agumon cheered.

“Yeah! Do your thing Calumon!” Marcus gave a thumbs up at Calumon. Calumon nodded as he flew up and closed his eyes. The red triangle on his forehead blinking a couple of times with the black ones taking turns blinking alongside of it. Then Calumon flew down with his ears shrinking in disappointment.

“I’m sorry.” Calumon whimpered.

“What happened?” Elecmon asked worriedly.

“I can sense T.K but… I can’t figure out where exactly he is.” Calumon answered looking down at the ground in shame. “It’s all really fuzzy with this weird data.”

“Was it like this with Jeri as well?” Veemon asked.

“Nope. I could easily figure out where Jeri’s at.” Calumon shook his head. “But I think that’s because I knew her so well.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Agumon asked.

“Ah well.” Calumon paused before flying up and poking Jeri. “I think it was because of how well I knew her that Shadow Jeri couldn’t hide in the weird data in the way.”

“I think I see.” Davis spoke.

“You do?” Jeri asked confused.

“You see how this world operates right? Seeing how T.K was on the Midnight E-Mail we can guess he is going through the same thing as Jeri did, making it a pattern.” Davis pointed out. He made sure he had everyone’s attention before continuing. “A Shadow Human comes for whenever someone falls in here as well as a new area appearing in the world. I don’t know if it’s the culprit or not that makes the area but that is not the point.”

“Then what is the point?” Marcus asked impatiently.

“The point is that a Shadow Human must be made of data since the can transform into a Digimon and with this being at least somewhat like the Digital World were used to, the may be able to make a data of protection that needs a password to get through. Like going into someone’s computer.”

“So what you’re saying is the weird fuzzy data that Calumon can’t get through to find T.K is the lock and we need the password to it?” Elecmon asked. “But then how did Calumon get through? I doubt he gave a password.”

“What’s a password?” Calumon asked.

“He has a point.” Veemon agreed. “How could get through without knowing a specific password?”

“It’s not like a real password.” Davis answered. “It’s more like a having the information you need to get into the area. Like you would have to know someone well to guess their password.”

“Oh I get it.” Veemon nodded in understanding. “Like how I know your password is FlameLightning.”

“Hey! Don’t go blurting out my password!”

“What got something to hide Dai?” Agumon teased.

“I did not know you were a man of secrets Davis.” Elecmon said.

“I’m not.” Davis groaned.

“Ah! I see. And the only reason that Veemon would know that is because he knows you really well.” Jeri smiled. “And now that I think about it, FlameLightning makes a lot of sense since Veemon’s armor digivolutions are centered around fire and lightning.”

“Wait! He has another form?” Marcus asked.

“Oh and then there is also Magnamon if you didn’t already know.” Davis winked.

“Why does Veemon have so many forms?” Marcus whined.

“Just cool like that.” Veemon grinned.

“So all we have to do is find some info on T.K?” Elecmon asked.

“Yep! I’ll be able to find him if you do that!” Calumon confirmed. “I don’t understand what Dai said, but I think his right!”

“If you didn’t understand what I said then why are you agreeing?” Davis deadpanned.

“It just felt right.”

“Ok. Then I suppose we should get searching.” Elecmon said as he stood up and shook his fur.

“Right.” Everyone agreed as they headed back to the old television and returned to the real world.


	24. Side Chapter #1

“Ok. I understand the whole Digimon thing happening again.” Mr. Katou sighed. He rubbed his temples as Jeri shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Jeri had just returned from being kidnapped and she had just explained the whole situation to her father and step mother who were both sitting across the dinner table with worried looks on their faces.

“And you want to help stop it again? After what happened last time?” Mrs. Katou asked worriedly.

“Yes.” Jeri responded. “I don’t want anyone else to go through what I went through when I can help them.”

“But….!”

“Very well.” Mr. Katou cut his wife off. Both her and Jeri looked over at him in shock.

“Really Dad?” Jeri asked.

“I don’t think we could stop you even if we tried. Plus it seems this is some serious stuff happening here, and though I don’t want you to be involved again, I know you need to be a part of it.”

“I suppose you are right.” Mrs. Katou agreed reluctantly.

“Thank you all so much! I promise to be safe!” Jeri exclaimed.

“And I promise to protect Jeri with my life.” Elecmon spoke up from where he sat by Jeri’s chair.

“You better Mr. Elecmon.” Mrs. Katou teased lightly.

“But however.” Mr. Katou pointed to a silent Marcus sitting in the chair by Jeri. “Does he really have to stay here?”

“He doesn’t have any other place to stay and his house is super far away so he won’t be able to come and help.” Jeri explained. “His really strong so he can really help us out.”

“Fine. But he sleeps in the guest room, has to help out with work, and is not allowed into your room or anywhere near it. Understand?” Mr. Katou glared at Marcus who gave a broad smile at the older man.

“Understood!”

“Ok. Then I guess we should be preparing dinner.” Mrs. Katou stood up from her seat and began walking out towards the kitchen. “Jeri why don’t you show Mr. Damon his room?”

“Right! This way Marcus!” Jeri exclaimed as she rushed up the stairs with Elecmon and Calumon following closely behind. 

Marcus smiled as he stood up and rushed after the girl. However, right before he reached the stairs he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and turned around to see an icy cold glare from Mr. Katou being directed straight at him. Marcus just blinked before turning back towards the stairs and following Jeri towards the second floor.

“He kind of reminds me of how protective you are of Kristy.” Agumon laughed from the Digivice.

“I’m not that bad.” Marcus rolled his eyes.

“You’re right Boss.” Agumon paused before snickering, “You are ten times _worse_.”

“Hey!”

“Marcus! Agumon! Hurry this way!” Calumon called from an open doorway. Marcus gave one last glare at the Digivice and walked over to the frantically waving Calumon.

 

“Marcus!” Jeri smiled happily as she slammed opened the door to Marcus’s room the next morning. Marcus blinked sleepily and turned his head to look at Jeri who was holding something behind her back as she strolled in.

“Yeah?” Marcus yawned as he tried to get up, but failed due to Agumon being on top of his arm.

With a few curses and grumbles, Marcus was finally able to push the dinosaur off and stand off the bed. Jeri giggled as Agumon still snored after all that and handed articles of clothing over to Marcus who looked at it in confusion.

“What’s this?” Marcus asked as he looked over the clothing. “A school uniform?”

“Yep! As of today you are going to Yasogami High!” Jeri cheered.

“When did this happen?”

“We enrolled you last night.” Jeri shrugged. “The school didn’t seem to have too big of a problem with it. Probably a little mad about it being in the middle of the night, but oh well. Anyways, breakfast is ready and Mom made sure to make you and Agumon extra food this time. So come down as soon as you’re changed!”

Marcus watched as Jeri happily closed the door and hummed down the hallway. He gave his uniform one final look over before shrugging and putting it on. He faced monsters and something akin to a god before, so being enrolled in a school in just one night wasn’t that weird.

 

“Marcus! I got you something!” Jeri happily announced as she once again slammed the door open again the next morning.

“Is it more clothes?” Marcus asked as he stood up from the bed.

“……” Jeri pouted as she pushed the clothes into Marcus arms.

“I guessed right?” Marcus asked as he looked over the clothes. “Hey hold on….!”

“This is your uniform while you’re working here so better get dressed and down stairs in thirty minutes.” Jeri smiled evilly as she closed the door.

Marcus glared at the door where he heard Jeri giggling before looking at the butler outfit in his hands as if it was the most offending thing in the world.

“I think you’ll look great in it Boss.”

“Of course you’re only up when I don’t want you to be.” Marcus growled as he punched Agumon on the head and began to get dressed, grumbling all the while about how Jeri even got some professional butler uniform in the first place.

 

“Marcus! Quick! You need to see this!” Jeri hissed as she snuck into the kitchen where Marcus was washing dishes. The boy looked up with a deadpanned stare as Jeri walked over to him.

“What? You suckered Davis to be in a butler uniform.” Marcus asked.

“No! But not a bad idea.” Jeri giggled before shaking her head. “Anyways just follow me!”

Marcus rolled his eyes but followed the girl anyway to the door separating the kitchen and dining area. They both poked their heads out.

“See right over there.” Jeri pointed over to a table where Davis and a white haired girl were sitting.

“Whose she?” Marcus asked.

“Jealous Marcus?” Jeri poked Marcus stomach and the boy laughed.

“Please. But seriously who is she?”

“That’s Helena she’s a girl who’s helping Davis with the mysterious cards he has.”

“Oh. I think he mentioned something like that.”  Marcus hummed. “Good to know that we got someone to help us out with that sort of stuff.”

“By the way.” Jeri hummed, in the tone Marcus has dubbed the evil hum, as she stepped back. Marcus looked up at her expecting the worst.

“What?” Marcus asked as he stood up and leaned against the wall.

“What do you think of Davis in a maid outfit?”

Marcus choked and nearly died that day.


	25. Aiya

“So what’s the plan?” Agumon asked once they reached the human world. “How are we going to find more info on T.K?”

Davis froze. He really hadn’t thought about that until now. He had no idea where T.K was staying, not to mention he didn’t really think calling Yamato was that good of an idea. He would ask questions of why he wanted to know more about T.K and more likely than not would make him angry when Davis didn’t tell him.

“That is a good question.” Davis sighed in defeat.

“Maybe we can contact Yamato?” Jeri suggested.

“Who’s Yamato?” Marcus asked.

“His T.K’s older brother.”

“Ah. He would know a lot about Takeru correct?” Elecmon asked.

“Takeru?” Davis asked.

“Yeah. That’s what he called himself in the video.”

“Oh right.” Davis scratched the back of his head. In all honesty he was too upset about the whole T.K being in there thing to pay too much attention to the first part of it. “But I don’t have his contact info.”

“Then that’s one way down.” Marcus sighed. “Though I suppose not all siblings know everything about each other. No matter how close.”

Davis tilted his head in confusion when Marcus frowned. It was weird to see Marcus look depressed. However, once the tall boy realized that he was being looked at, he shook his head and smiled that usual confident smile.

“So how about we figure out where he lives then?” DemiVeemon suggested.

“Yeah. But where do we begin?” Jeri asked. “I mean it isn’t like we know exactly where we could find his relatives here.”

“I could look around for someone who looks like T.K.” Calumon smiled as he flew up a little before being yanked down by a panicked Jeri. “Oops. Sorry.”

“I don’t know if that would be a good idea.” Davis argued. “What if you find someone who isn’t related to T.K at all?”

“Oh.” Calumon’s ears shrunk at that.

“Not that it was a bad idea, just that it could be possible you could mix things up.” Jeri comforted.

“Then where do we even begin?” Agumon whined.

“I think we should think about it tomorrow.” DemiVeemon spoke. “How about we just relax today. We did have little rest and it wouldn’t be a good idea to push ourselves.”

“Right. So relax today, work tomorrow.” Jeri smiled. “I think I’ll go on off and call some of my friends though. I haven’t talked to them in a while, and they may know a thing about T.K since they watched the show.”

“Isn’t that mainly working?” Marcus deadpanned.

“Not if it goes into….” Jeri paused and looked over to Davis with a wink. “I probably shouldn’t talk about it in front of Davis and DemiVeemon though.”

“Wait? What can’t you talk to about in front of me?” Davis panicked.

“I want to know too!” DemiVeemon called.

“Mmm.” Jeri just smiled as she walked past Davis. “I don’t think you boys should know, not to mention you might freak out a bit. Plus I better head home now and call Rika…. I also have other things to talk about with her anyway.”

“Wait!” Davis called, but Jeri just giggled and skipped away in glee with Calumon in her arms. _“That girl is evil sometimes! And what else does she want to discuss with her friend?”_

“What was she talking about?” DemiVeemon asked.

“Please tell me you know Marcus.”

“Sorry. I don’t know anything.” Marcus shrugged his shoulders. But from the look in his eyes, you could tell he was just as curious. “What about you Agumon?”

“…” The digivice stayed silent.

“You know don’t you?”

“……. No.”

“Agumon!”

“I don’t about the first part!” Agumon responded.

“But you know what she discusses with Rika?” DemiVeemon pointed out.

“Uhh….” Davis could just imagine the way Agumon must have put his hands to his mouth.

“What is it Agumon?” Marcus asked with an evil hint in his voice as he brought the digivice to his face.

“Uhhh… I’ll tell you Boss, but not in front of Davis.” Agumon stated.

“Deal.” Marcus smiled as he rushed off.

“What? Marcus!” Davis yelled after the brunette who just smiled back at Davis.

“Sorry Dai, but I got to know about this!” Marcus smiled gleefully as he rushed towards the exit.

“I wish I could go with them to figure it out myself.” DemiVeemon pouted.

“All of you are against me.” Davis sighed affectionately. “Anyways. I know you said we should relax but I think we should still make some preparations.”

DemiVeemon tilted his head curiously at Davis, “What kind of preparations?”

“How about we head to the shopping district first?” Davis suggested. When DemiVeemon nodded Davis set out for the shopping district. “Anyways. I was thinking about getting some essential stuff. Like food in case we get stuck there since that place doesn’t seem like it would have a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Maybe a couple of first aid kits too. I know you have healing powers now but they seem to really drain you for each and every thing.”

“Yeah! I wish another Small healing card would drop so Elecmon could learn it or something. Healing isn’t easy you know!” DemiVeemon huffed.

Davis laughed, “Yeah I know.”

…..

“This is some of the strangest stuff I’ve ever seen.” Davis sweat dropped as he looked at the selection of herbal goods and items. He had come in here hearing he could buy a first aid kit here, not all these weird herbs and items.

“Ah. I see you have found the Dokudami Tea.” The old lady at the counter smiled. “It is known to cure all sorts of poison.”

“Really?” Davis asked.

“Yes. And the Royal Jelly next to it helps with exhaustion and the Goho-m can help you go back to where you began.”

 _“Goho-m? Is that supposed to be a joke?”_ Davis thought as he examined the prices of everything before nearly falling over in shock. Some of the stuff was so expensive! Yeah he has money from what the Shadow Digimon dropped, of where they get it from is a mystery Davis will never solve, but with it wasn’t enough to cover everything here and what he would use to buy groceries.

Davis bit his bottom lip as he scanned all the items the store had to offer. Some of it could be really useful if something really bad happened while over there. He sighed as he picked out some medicine and other items to help injuries and poison and headed over to the counter.

 _“I’ll buy what I need now and come back later for other useful items.”_ Davis conclude as the old woman rang him up and he was on his way. _“But I really need to find a way for better income.”_

“Hey Dai.” DemiVeemon whispered. Davis looked down at his friend who was pointing over a bulletin board. Davis walked over to the board and peered at all the job listings on there.

“Uh… So?” Davis asked.

“Well we need money right? Why not take a job?” DemiVeemon said before glaring at Davis. “You better not say it’s because you’re too lazy.”

“Well….” Davis said playfully before looking over the jobs again. “I suppose we can take one. But which one should I take then?”

“How about this one?”

“Aiya waiter?”

“Well it is a restaurant. I thought you would enjoy that.”

“It’s not like be cooking.” Davis sighed but looked at the address of the flyer anyway. “But I guess it’s better than no job at all. Wait… Does it say just to the left of the billboard?”

Davis turned his head to the side to find the restaurant right by the bulletin board.

“Well?” DemiVeemon asked.

“Fine, fine. It’s better than nothing.” Davis sighed as he pulled out his Digivice. “But you need to go in here.”

“What?!”

“It would be pretty bad for me to apply for a job with a ‘stuffed plushy’ in my arms.” Davis rolled his eyes. After some grumbling, DemiVeemon agreed and had his data transferred to the digivice. With that out of the way, Davis headed inside the Aiya restaurant.

Almost instantly he was hit by the smell of ramen and the sound of laughter from the customers. He looked around to see people of varying ages sitting around and enjoying the meal that was being served to them by a short blue haired girl that upon seeing him walked over calmly.

“Hello. Welcome to Aiya’s.” She greeted stoically with a small bow. “How can I help you?”

“I saw the job application here and….” Davis began but was interrupted as the girl grabbed his hand and started to pull him behind the counter and into the kitchen. “Huh? Hold on!”

“Aiya! Aika why are you bringing a customer back here!” A middle aged man yelled over at Davis and, the now named, Aika as soon as they entered the kitchen.

“He wants to work here Dad.” Aika answered.

“Oh does he?” The man, who Davis presumed was the owner, smiled. “Then get him a uniform, clock him in, and get him to work!”

“Wait hold on!” Davis gaped. This was happening way to fast.

“Come on.” Aika pushed the uniform in Davis’s arms and proceeded to push him into a changing room. “Lunch rush is about to come in and one of our workers is out today, so you should hurry up.”

“But hold on! I didn’t even do an interview or anything!”

“Doesn’t really matter. If you are at least decent worker you’ll be fine. Now what’s your name so I can put it on this name tag?”

After a few moments of grumbling Davis responded, “It’s Davis. Davis Motomiya.”

“Davis? That’s a pretty American name.”

“Sorry for my name.” Davis rolled his eyes as he pulled out the uniform. It was a black shirt in contrast of Aika’s white shirt with black pants to match. He took of his clothes and put the new uniform on. He grabbed the white apron that also came with it and tied it around his neck and waist. He hummed as he grabbed the final piece of clothing, a red headscarf, and tied it around his head. Making sure he still had his Digivice under his shirt, he stepped out of the changing room to meet Aika handing him his name tag.

“Thanks.” Davis took the name tag and put it to the right side of his shirt. Aika looked him up and down before nodding.

“Good you look the part.” Aika nodded. “Now go clock in over there, grab a writing pad, and head out to take some orders. If you are having any trouble, just come and ask me.”

“This is going by way to fast and way to convenient.” Davis muttered as he clocked in and then proceeded to follow the instructions he was given.

“Yo waiter!” “I would like….” “Can I get some more soy sauce?” “Can I get the chick here instead?”

Davis rushed back and forth between all the orders and tried his best to make sure he got all of them written down in time. He also had to go on off and grab all the orders and deliver them, though he did mix it up once or twice. He was somewhat annoyed by near the end of the lunch rush and nearly collapsed once he was told he can take a break.

“Aiya! Not bad for a first day!” The owner yelled over his shoulder to Davis who had his head against the table. “Definitely better then Kanji on his first day!”

 _“Who’s Kanji?”_ Davis thought but smiled at the thought that he did good enough to keep the job.

“Yo!” A voice boomed. Davis turned his head to see quite a tall boy, probably a year older then Marcus walk through the curtain in the back. He had black hair styled neatly and wore a nice white dress shirt, pants and wore glasses. Though this would usually lead to Davis to think that he was some kind of nerd he could tell right away from both his face and the fact that he was pretty muscular that he could probably beat Davis into a pulp. “Sorry I was late. Ma needed help in the store and you know that when she needs it, she needs it.”

“Aiya! Kanji! Don’t worry about. Luckily we got a new worker today!” The owner smiled and cocked his head over to Davis who was watching Kanji with the boy swearing his heard that name before.

“Really now?” Kanji turned his attention to Davis and smiled. “Yo! What’s up? I’m Kanji Tatsumi.”

“Davis Motomiya.” Davis sat up straight after that.

“Nice to meet ya Davis!” Kanji patted Davis on the back. Davis thought he would have been pushed over but was shocked to figure out that he was only lightly patted by the large man. “Glad to have another worker here. If you need anything just talk to me.”

“Y-yeah sure.” Davis nodded.

“Sheesh. Kanji! Stop scaring my new workers!” The owner yelled.

“Hey! Just because I scared the shit out of a couple of workers doesn’t mean I’ll do it ten times in a row!” Kanji yelled back angrily. “It’s not my fault that some people still see me nothing as a bully!”

 _“Wait? Is he that Kanji?”_ Davis thought for a brief moment as he looked up at the taller man. From what he heard, Kanji was supposed to be a dangerous biker leader who would beat up anyone that caused his temper to flare. But this Kanji seemed nice enough. He was talking about helping his mom earlier and it seems the owner likes him well enough. Davis shook his head. _“Nah. It can’t be that Kanji.”_

“Please I’ve met scarier people.” Davis gave a cocky smirk as he stood up, his break almost over.

“And I already like you.” Kanji smiled. “Come on. I’ll help you get started. Knowing Aika, she did not give you much direction at all.”

“Yeah. That would be appreciated.” Davis smiled as he waited for Kanji to change and followed the taller boy out back into the fray.

“Hi. How can I help you?” Davis asked as he stopped at one of the tables.

“Ah. You are…” The woman at the table looked up and stared at Davis. Davis looked over at her and froze upon seeing those blue eyes again. “You’re that young girl’s older brother?”

“Cousin.” Davis stated stiffly.

“Is she doing all right?”

“Yeah. She’s doing better now.”

“Ah that’s good.” The woman smiled but it was that of a some small good coming out of something horrible that just happened. Davis stood stiffly as he continued to watch the woman. Those blue eyes giving him unease. “Ahem.”

“Huh?” Davis snapped out of whatever trance he was in and looked at the woman who was smirking a little.

“Can I take my order?”

“Sure right away.” Davis jotted down the order she gave and was about to head back.

“Anyways what was your name again?”

“Davis.” Davis turned and nodded before heading back to the kitchen to give the order, missing the shocked look the woman gave as he walked away.

“Whoo!” Kanji sighed as he slumped in his chair after work hours. “Man today was tough.”

“Hmm. Not really.” Aika disagreed as she stood there looking like she hadn’t even broken a sweat.

“Says you both!” Davis mumbled from where he lay tiredly on the floor.

“Haha! Sorry. Forgot this was your first day! Hell of a day to start working though.” Kanji laughed.

Davis looked up and glared at Kanji, not having enough energy to get up and make a sarcastic remark. He’d rather fight Digimon all day then deal with difficult customers all day.

“Screw all of you.” Davis rolled over onto his back and moaned.

“No worries Davis. Deliveries are more fun. You may do those.” Aika spoke.

Davis looked over at the smiling Aika. He considered it for a moment but upon seeing Kanji shaking his head with a worried expression.

“I’m going to regret working here aren’t I?” Davis moaned.

“Probably. Especially since you’re the younger one here.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah I’m eighteen and a senior.” Kanji pointed to himself then over to Aika. “And she’s 20 and graduated.”

“What?!” Davis sat up immediately at that and pointed at Aika. “She barely looks older than me and younger then you!”

“Can’t deny the truth Davis.”

“I know, but it’s so weird!” Davis fell back on the floor. “I mean. You look kinda of old Kanji.”

“What you say punk!” Kanji leapt up. Davis yelped as he rolled further away from the enraged Kanji.

“And this is why we can’t get any new workers.” Aika sighed.

“What? You seriously can’t blame me for that!”

“I think it’s a combination of both of you.” Davis pouted.

“Hey!”

“Kidding! Kidding!” Davis defended himself.

_“Sheesh. Marcus can punch down Digimon no problem, but I’m more intimated by Kanji then him.”_

_“I am thou… and thou art I….” The voice from before spoke. “Thou hast established a new bond… “It brings thee closer to the truth… Thou shalt be blessed when Digimon with those of the Hierophant Arcana.”_

_“Ah. Voice in my head is back.”_ Davis deadpanned. Kanji gave Davis a curious look before shrugging his shoulders.

“Aiya! Davis. A customer from earlier wanted to see you.” The owner called over from over the counter.

Davis stood up with a confused look and headed out to the front to see the same blue-eyed woman from earlier waiting. He froze for a bit before waving.

“Hello. Can I help you?” Davis asked.

“I was hoping to talk to you a bit.” The woman spoke.

“Uh sure. Hey clock out for me, will you Kanji?” Davis yelled.

“Sure thing!”

Davis smiled as he walked out the door with the blonde haired woman.

“So any particular reason you want to speak with your waiter in private?” Davis asked as the woman sat down on a bench nearby.

“I want to talk about Takeru.” She said. Davis immediately froze. His smiling face turning into one of shock. Sudden realization of where he saw those blue eyes before hitting him like a train. “Ah. I mean T.K but you seem to know his real name.”

“Y-yeah.” Davis mumbled. “You must be his mother. Mrs. Takeshi.”

“Yes. I am. But I want to know why you know Takeru’s real name.” She asked her eyes suddenly freezing over.

“What? What’s so weird about it?”

“Takeru never lets people outside our family know his real name.” Mrs. Takeshi continued. “And I don’t think you are one to talk Davis, or should I say Daisuke.”

“Well why doesn’t he tell people? And why can you just assume he didn’t tell me?” Davis glared.

“Takeru is never comfortable with people calling him his full name. I’m not going to go into detail why, but why don’t you tell people your full name then? Cause from what Takeru refers you as, it certainly isn’t Daisuke.”

“T.K talks about me?” Davis asked curiously.

“Maybe he does. Or maybe he talks about what happens in the Digital World. Who knows?” Mrs. Takeshi waved it off.

“Look.” Davis growled sourly causing to Mrs. Takeshi to look at him in surprise. “If you’re here to talk to me about what happened last year at the end of junior high, I don’t want to hear it! I’ve already taken enough lectures and hatred of others to last me another good decade over it and I don’t need to hear it from anyone else.”

“I was mad at first, it didn’t last long Daisuke.” Mrs. Takeshi’s voice softened.

“W-what?” Davis took a step back before glaring at her again. “And why didn’t it.”

“Takeru…. He kept insisting it wasn’t your fault.” The blonde looked forward in thought. “You should have seen his face when he heard from Hikari and Miyako that they weren’t going to talk to you anymore. When they left he told me that it wasn’t your fault at all. Well he said maybe a little, but you certainly didn’t deserve what happened with your friends. He tried to convince them while they were over but they brushed him off and said he was too kind to his enemies.”

 _“What?”_ Davis thought nearly falling over from the news.

“And the thing is he never did that with the people that bullied him. He would go right on off and say what they did it was all their fault. You were the first person I heard him try to defend so fiercely like that.”

“What?” Davis gasped again and he could swear he could hear DemiVeemon gasp too.

“I’m sorry. You obviously don’t want to talk about it. Plus I’m sure Takeru would like to see you himself when he feels ready to confront you on it. I know Takeru isn’t saying it out loud but he feels like his to blame for what happened.”

_“What? What? What?”_

“What I want to know is…” Mrs. Takeshi turned to look at the confused Davis. “Where is Takeru?”

“What?” Davis asked before shaking himself from his trance. “I mean… what?”

“Where is he Davis? I know that this has something to do with Digimon and that you are the only person that could possibly know.”

Davis bit his lip. He couldn’t just tell her that her son was kidnapped and was put in the Digital World. That might not bode over well with her and she may go on off and call Yamato and then that would cause a whole lot of trouble with Davis.

“Please Davis.” Mrs. Takeshi begged.

“Well. It has to do with the Digital World.” Davis dragged out.

“I knew it.” Mrs. Takeshi sighed. “Then the video I saw was from the Digital World.”

“Wait. You’ve seen the video?”

“Yes. Part of the story I’m writing involves the kidnappings and murders of this town. I heard a rumor that the people who were kidnapped and murdered had shown up on some video at midnight before they were murdered. Only a young girl came back. Since Takeru didn’t come back from his grocery run yesterday I looked up the video and….”

“You saw that.” Davis whispered.

“I-I don’t know what’s going on. I know that’s Takeru, but at the same time it doesn’t feel like Takeru.”

“Mrs. Takeshi. I know this is hard to swallow, but that is T.K.”

“I know, I know.” Mrs. Takeshi. “But you seem to know a lot about what’s going on Davis. Please tell me you’ll save Takeru.”

“I plan too.” Davis said looking away. “But I’ll need your help first.”

“Anything!” Mrs. Takeshi stood up.

“It’s not just me that knows what’s going on. Two others do too and we’ll all go together to save him, but we need info on Takeru first. Nothing like baby pictures or anything, but just something most people may not know about him.” Davis explained. Mrs. Takeshi nodded. “So I think you and my group should meet after school, over at the park where Akiko plays.”

“Of course and I’ll contact….”

“No. You can’t contact anyone, especially the other Digidestined.”

“Not even Yamato?”

“Yeah. They may actually get in the way on this. Yamato would probably jump in to save Takeru without out thinking and the others may not give the info we actually need.” Davis said.

“I see.” Mrs. Takeshi. “Very well. Then I will meet you at the park after school hours ends.” Mrs. Takeshie turned and began to walk away. Davis took that as a sign as the conversation was over and was about to leave when she turned back around. “Thank you Davis.”

“No problem.” Davis responded. When he finally saw that she had truly turned around and left, he began to sprint back home. His breathing catching him as he ran and once he got home, he opened the door, closed it shut as quietly as he could as to not wake up a sleeping Akiko and rushed to his room.

“Daisuke!” DemiVeemon yelled as he popped out of the Digivice and lay sat down by his partner who was now gripping his head in his hands, sitting on the bed. “Hey! Are you ok?”

“Do I look ok?” Davis snapped but calmed down and laid his head into his pillow. “I’m an idiot. Look what I’ve done.”

“You didn’t do anything.” DemiVeemon tried to soothe. “It’s not like you were the one who threw Takeru in or tried to lie about it to his mother.”

“But I knew he was the next victim. I could have prevented it! I wouldn’t have made his mom worried at all if I just sat and listened to whatever he had to say about the whole matter!” Davis punched the bed in frustration. “If I just didn’t let my feelings get the better of me…!”

“Daisuke!” DemiVeemon slapped the side of Davis’s face. Davis pulled his head up and pulled a hand to the place he was slapped. “It’s not your fault. Let me ask you something. Do you regret punching T.K that day?”

“No.” Davis answered.

“Right. Did you ever he felt that you needed to apologize for it.”

“Only when they tried to make me, but even then, no.”

“Then don’t say that if you just sat and talked to him stuff ok?” DemiVeemon scolded. “You were hurt, you didn’t want to think about it, and you certainly already were a mess when T.K first showed up.”

“Hey!”

“Let me finish ok.” DemiVeemon’s gaze softened. “Maybe you could have prevented the kidnapping, since you knew ahead of time it was T.K, but even if you tried, do you think the possibility of him getting kidnapped was still high?”

“Well yeah. All it would take is a laptop and being near the victim to send him to the Digital World. If Calumon could distract and lead T.K to an alley, I’m pretty sure our culprit could as well. He could get Jeri and two other kids after all.”

“Right. So even if we had warned T.K then he may still have ended up getting kidnapped, no matter how safe we played it.”

“But…”

“No more buts! Do you really think you have a counterargument to this Daisuke?” DemiVeemon asked.

“No I don’t. But it doesn’t mean I’m still somewhat at fault here.” Davis argued.

“And that I can’t argue. At least in the last case. But the others have nothing to do with this. So don’t beat yourself up over it.” DemiVeemon smiled. “Got it?”

Davis returned the smile, “Yeah I get. When did you get so smart anyways?”

“I was always smart!” DemiVeemon rebutted.

“Yeeeahh. Sure.” Davis smiled as he laid back down. “Anyways. How about we head to bed we have a long day ahead of us.”

“Fine, fine. But I’m not letting this go.” DemiVeemon agreed as he laid down beside Davis.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” 


	26. Contacting a Friend

“What?” The gang yelled the next day after school.

“Yep. We got a lead.” DemiVeemon smiled triumphantly.

“I thought it was rest yesterday and act today!” Marcus yelled as he pulled Davis into a choke hold. “What happened to all of that huh?”

“Well maybe if you didn’t go and run off like a traitor you could have helped me get the lead as well.” Davis replied sarcastically. Marcus tightened his grip causing Davis to choke.

“What did you say?”

“Um instead of wrestling how about we go and follow Davis’s lead.” Jeri suggested separating the two boys. “You guys will have plenty of time to do that later.”

“Right.” “Fine.”

“Oh and by the way.” Davis said as he led the others over to the park. “My lead does know about Digimon so don’t worry about hiding anything.”

“Wait what?” Agumon gasped from the Digivice. “DATS is really slacking.”

“How do they know about Digimon?” Marcus asked.

“She’s the mother to T.K.” DemiVeemon answered.

“So we’re meeting up with his mother?” Elecmon asked. “And she knows about Digimon? I thought humans were meant to keep Digimon a secret.”

“Well we are, but T.K’s family got really caught up in the Digital World. Both him and Yamato were sent their and during Myotismon’s invasion of Odaiba their parents had no choice but to be involved until the others went back to the Digital World.” Jeri explained.

“She’s about right. Their parents do know about it and that they would go to the Digital World on a daily basis during my adventures.” Davis confirmed.

“How does DATS not know anything about this? I would think all of this would cause a panic or something.” Marcus groaned. “When did this all happen again?”

“Mine was three years ago, the original was four years before that, sooo seven.” DemiVeemon answered.

“For some reason though, no one seems to remember those events outside of the digidestined and certain family members.” Davis added.

“And the show that mysteriously disappeared.” Jeri agreed. “Though I think it was help to stop panic.”

“I’m the only one who doesn’t know about all this aren’t I?” Marcus asked.

“Yep.” “Pretty much.” “I was there.”

“Agumon why did you say something?”

“I didn’t want to be left out.” Agumon answered.

“Ah. There she is!” Davis pointed to Mrs. Takeshi who was sitting on a lone park bench reading a book.

“Wow. T.K looks a lot like her.” Marcus commented.

“Does that make T.K a girl?” Calumon asked.

“You don’t want me answering that.” Davis joked.

“Wait if humans look like their mothers that makes them female?” Agumon asked. “Boss! Have you been lying that you were a guy this whole time?”

“Shut up you!” Marcus growled. “And no! That’s not true!”

“Well it would explain a lot.” Jeri chuckled.

“Great. Is it my day to be made fun of?”

“Yeah.” Everyone said at once.

“Screw you!”

“Anyways. The mission should be completed.” Davis hurried once Marcus took a dangerous step towards Davis. “Come on. Let’s go before she thinks we stood her up.”

“Come on Marcus.” Jeri called after the seething boy who was being left behind. After some grumbling, he hurried after the others.

“Hey Mrs. Takeshi.” Davis greeted as the group approached.

“Ah Davis.” The blonde responded. She looked at the other two people with Davis and the DemiVeemon in his arms. “I presume these are your friends and Digimon?”

“Yep, yep!” DemiVeemon answered.

“So it really is a Digital World problem.” She mumbled before standing up. “Anyways. I don’t think this is the best place to talk.”

“I agree. Then where should we go?” Davis asked.

“How about my place? We may also find some clues on T.K there.”

“Sounds good. Guys?” Davis turned his head to Marcus and Jeri who nodded in agreement. “OK. Lead the way.”

Mrs. Takeshi nodded and beckoned the high schoolers to follow her as she began to walk off. It took a couple of minutes in some silence except from the usual ‘Are we there yet’ from Agumon, Marcus, DemiVeemon and Calumon. Once they arrived, Mrs. Takeshi opened the door and let everyone inside.

“Please make yourselves at home. The Digimon can come out from wherever they are hiding if it helps.” Mrs. Takeshi said as she took of her shoes and headed into the kitchen.

“With pleasure!” Agumon cheered as he popped out of Marcus’s digivice, which was soon followed by Calumon and Elecmon.

The group all headed to the living room and sat down around the table, waiting for Mrs. Takeshi to arrive back with whatever it is she was getting.

“So it looks like she’s worried.” Jeri mumbled.

“Yeah. But anyone would be if someone close to them got kidnapped to some dangerous world.” Marcus commented. “It can be pretty hard to swallow sometimes.”

Davis looked between his two distressed friends faces. Jeri was obviously had a very sad reminiscent look on her face with Calumon and Elecmon shooting worried glances over at her. Marcus looked nonchalant, but Davis couldn’t help but notice the slight frown that was on his face.

“Ok. Here we are.” Mrs. Takeshi placed a large plate filled with sandwiches down. “You can eat up. I know how much Digimon like to eat.”

“Oh boy!” Calumon took a sandwich and began to eat it. The other Digimon and Marcus soon also grabbed some food and chowed down.

“So what do you need to know about Takeru?” Mrs. Takeshi asked as she sat down at the head of the table.

“Well, we just need to know something that many others don’t know about Takeru.” Elecmon answered.

“It doesn’t have to be suuuuppper detailed. Just enough to get us to know him better.” Calumon clarified.

“And you don’t know much Davis?” Mrs. Takeshi asked.

“Well I think you can tell that we didn’t exactly get along.” Davis muttered.

“Right, right.” Mrs. Takeshi waved the question off. “Then I guess I can tell you some things. His good at the harmonica, he likes reading sappy romance novels, he keeps junk food under his bed….”

“Are you taking notes Dai?” Agumon asked looking over Davis’s shoulder who had brought out a pencil and paper was writing down what Mrs. Takeshi was saying.

“Uhhh. Just so we can reference if we need too.” Davis answered.

“More like to laugh at later.” DemiVeemon mumbled.

“Is this the information you need?” Mrs. Takeshi asked.

“Well Calumon?” Elecmon asked.

“Well…” Calumon hummed. “I get that his a hopeless romantic, who can play the harmonica and that he likes to eat junk food during the night.” Calumon paused. “But I don’t think that’s what we need. It needs to be something, well….”

“More secretive and dark?” Davis asked. “All this information isn’t anything like Shadow T.K.”

“Yeah!”

“So something that he keeps so deep inside himself that it causes a shadow.” Jeri said. “Yeah I suppose that makes sense. I kept the feelings of my shadow deep inside for a while.”

“So it needs to be something that he keeps bottled up.” Mrs. Takeshi asked.

“Going by what Jeri and Calumon said, I would go with it.” Marcus answered.

“Then… I know he was worrying about something and when he first came back from the Digital World he became somewhat quieter than usual. And sometimes during the second adventure, he would come back angry or sad.”

“Do you know the details, or any vague details?” Davis asked.

“No. I think the only ones who would know those are Yamato and his young friend Iori.”

“So we need to contact one of them and ask for vague details?” Jeri asked.

“I doubt you will be able to get info without really telling them what is going on.” Mrs. Takeshi advised.

“Can’t we just ask?” Marcus asked. “It isn’t like they’ll actually get any information on what’s going on.”

Mrs. Takeshi took a quick glance at Davis before turning her attention to everyone, “Well I think Iori will be the best bet though. His the most understanding and least likely to jump recklessly into this.”

“Yeah. He seems really mature for his age in the show three years ago, he must act even like an adult now. His also T.K’s DNA partner so he should know a lot.” Jeri beamed. “He may be the best bet.”

“Hold on Jeri.” Davis interrupted. “You’ve seen the show right? Maybe you know something?”

“Show?” Mrs. Takeshi asked.

“It’s a long story that I don’t get.” Marcus sighed.

“Well I know some plot points.” Jeri hummed. “And I did ask my friends what they thought, but I didn’t, especially with behind scenes stuff that I didn’t even hear about you, a lot of stuff could have happened.”

“Not to mention the three year gap. A lot of stuff obviously went on during that time.” Elecmon pointed out, taking a quick glance to Davis. “Even a month can change a lot.”

“Right. Then, Mrs. Takeshi do you have Iori’s phone number?” Davis asked.

“You don’t have Iori’s phone number?” Jeri asked.

“We usually sent e-mails to one another.” Davis lied.

“Of course.” Mrs. Takeshi dug her phone out of her purse and went through a couple numbers. “Here it is.”

She handed the phone to Davis who took it somewhat reluctantly. He was grateful for getting info and it not being Yamato, but at the time he was still kind of fearful of Iori going on off and telling the others. Davis sighed. He had to do this. So he took out his phone and typed the number in. He put it next to his ear and let it ring a few times.

 _“Please pick up Iori.”_ Davis begged.

 

“Huh?” Iori glanced at his phone that was ringing in his pocket. He was at the mall with Hikari and Miyako since the two girls wanted to go clothes shopping and Iori was dragged along. Now they were all sitting at a table enjoying some sundaes.

“Hey who’s calling you?” Miyako asked.

“Is it T.K?” Hikari asked looking over Iori’s shoulder, who was now looking at his phone.

“No. The caller ID is unknown.” Iori thought for a moment before nodding his head. “I’ll answer and let them know they have the wrong number.”

Iori hit the answer button and put the phone to his ear.

“Hello?” Iori asked.

“Hey Iori. This is Davis.” A familiar voice spoke through the phone.

Iori’s eyes widened before he stood up from the table, “If you two would excuse me for a moment.”

He bowed before walking away with the two girls staring after him with curious looks.

“Davis?”

“Yeah?” The boy responded.

“It’s been awhile, how are you?” Iori asked somewhat worriedly. He wasn’t the closest person to Davis, but he was still worried when he suddenly figured out Davis had moved and told nobody about it. “How’s Inaba?”

“It’s… good I guess. And I’m doing decent.” Davis answered. His voice was somewhat strained which caused Iori’s eyes to narrow.

“Is something wrong?”

“Huh?” Davis gasped. “Well, yeah actually. That’s yeah I called you.”

“Well I’m here to help.” Iori answered before pausing and smirked. “Though it somewhat hurts that that’s all you really wanted to call me for.”

“What? Hey! I’m sorry alright. It’s not like I had your number before and this situation I had to get it from someone else.” 

“It was a joke Davis.”

“What? Since when did you develop a sense of humor?”

“You are a bad influence.”

“Ah thanks Iori.” Davis drawled. “But you need to take better notes on me. You sounded way to serious.”

“Hard habit to break.” Iori chuckled. Soon he heard another boy’s voice yell from the opposite receiver.

“Hurry up Dai!” The boy yelled.

“Cool your jets Marcus!” Davis growled at the now named Marcus. “Well you see. The problem involves the Digital World.”

“W-what?” Iori gasped. Was Davis being serious about this?

Iori heard some yelling and some arguing on the other end. Something about being subtle and not to bring the info unless it was needed or something.

“He was going to figure it out anyways, might as well tell him outright so he doesn’t get all suspicious of us.” Davis argued. “Anyways. I’m being serious about this. It really does involve the Digital World. Here. I can prove it.”

“I don’t need proof. I trust you.” Iori whispered.

“I guess he didn’t want to hear my voice.” A childlike voice spoke up. Iori immediately recognized it as DemiVeemon.

“Hi DemiVeemon.”

“Hey. He remembers me!” 

“Of course.”

“Ok. Give me back the phone.” Davis voice sounded distant at first before it came back clear and loud. “Good to know you remember DemiVeemon. Anyways, I need your help.”

“What do you need me to do? Head to the Digital World?”

“No. It’s not possible for you to enter the Digital World. You need a specific Digivice.”

“You mean there’s a new model?”

“Yeah. And plus this time it’s a lot more dangerous and I can’t guarantee Armidillomon will be there to protect you this time.”

“But if you can go and take me…”

“No. It’s a thing like the Digital World but it isn’t exactly like it entirely.”

“How so?”

“It’s a weird shadowy place devoid of life except these shadow versions of Digimon littered around the place. They can’t be reasoned with and they will attack you on sight. Not to mention there are now these things that me and the others refer to as Shadow Humans who seem to be more dangerous then the Digimon. I’ll get to them later.”

“So it’s like a shadow copy of the Digital World?”

“Pretty much, but it seems to link to the Digital World as it can be entered the same way and it can drag Digimon into it.” 

“Sounds deadly. And you said others right? So you’re not doing this alone?”

“Yeah. I have Marcus, his partner Agumon, Jeri, her partner Elecmon, Veemon and Calumon helping me out.”

“T.K isn’t helping you? I thought his in Inaba by now and that he gave you my number.”

“That’s the thing.” Davis stopped nervously. “T.K’s been kidnapped.”

“What?!” Iori yelled causing others around him to give him either annoyed or curious glances. He apologized before turning his attention back to his phone. “What do you mean his been kidnapped?”

“Exactly as it sounds. I’ll probably need to explain this from the beginning.” 

After a good thirty minutes, filled with Davis telling about the events going on in Inaba, how shadow humans and shadow Digimon work.

“And that’s about it.”

“I see.” Iori hummed. “So T.K’s the next victim with his Shadow Human. If you don’t save him in the next couple of days he’ll die. And on top of that, if he denies that part of himself while in that world a strong Digimon will appear.”

“Yeah. And the only way we can get to where he is at is if we have enough info on him that helps us understand him better. Something that he likes to keep to himself.”

“And you called me.” Iori finished.

“Exactly.”

“Ok. So I’m guessing it has something to do with the Digital World related to what his hiding if his mother doesn’t know.”

“Yeah. And you’re the best bet at helping us out. We can’t contact Yamato because….” Davis paused. “I’m sure you can guess why.”

Iori flinched slightly, “Yeah I can guess why.”

“So do you know anything, and I mean anything at all that can help us.” Davis begged.

Iori paused for a moment. In all honesty, he was rather shocked to see Davis calling and asking for help to rescue T.K of all people. He knew this two didn’t get along and with what happened last year, he was rather shocked Davis was all that willing to go and help someone he seemed to hate so much. But then again, Davis was always someone to help others where the others would refuse to help, with the situation with Ken and all. The only other person who say things Davis way was T.K and yet those two could never seem to get along.

“Just one question first.”

“Shoot.”

“Why are you helping T.K?”

“W-what?”

“Why? Why are you helping T.K? You don’t even like him at all.”

 

“Hey Davis you doing ok?” Marcus asked as Davis was gaping at whatever was said over the phone.

“Is it something really bad about Takeru?” Mrs. Takeshi fretted.

“N-no. It’s fine. I’m fine.” Davis assured. “Though give me a moment, this is something private.” He spoke to the phone, “Give me a moment Iori.”

Davis stood up and, with worried and startled stares, walked outside and closed the door. He breathed a little once outside in the fresh air and soon began looking for the answer Iori was looking for. Why was he helping the boy he hated? Was it because it was the right thing to do? Possibly. Davis always did the right thing, but then again it wasn’t always taken that way by others. Was it because of what he heard from Mrs. Takeshi? How T.K tried to defend him and Davis was the only person who physically hurt T.K to be defended. And now his head was in a jumble because of it? He really didn’t have a clear cut answer then it’s the right thing to do. So he might as well go with that for now.

“W-well because it’s the right thing to do.” Davis finally answered for what felt like hours but was only a couple of minutes.

“…..” The other end was quiet for a moment before he finally spoke up. “I don’t doubt that, and I already suspected that’s why, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the only reason.”

“Look I really don’t know myself.” Davis growled. “Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t like T.K, and that is something that will probably take a long time to change, but I figured out I can’t blame him for what happened a year ago.”

“So he told you he felt like it was his fault already?” Iori asked. “I thought you would have ignored him.”

“He thinks it’s his fault?” Davis asked. His mind went numb for a moment, missing Iori’s shock. He soon shook his head of the thought. He needed to focus. “No he didn’t tell me that. All I heard was that he defended me when the others, I’m excluding you and Ken of course, were blaming me. So I at least owe him for it.”

“I-I see. I shouldn’t have said anything.” Iori apologized.

“It’s no problem. Just… Can we get past this topic?”

“Yes of course.” Iori answered in understanding.

“So. Do you have anything?” Davis opened the door, closed it and re sat by the others who gave him curious looks.

“I think I got something that may help you out.” Iori answered.

“Great. So what do you got?”

“Well, T.K seems to have this complex when it comes to the darkness or anything evil.”

“That seems good. Care to clarify?”

“Well when we found out that Ken, as the Digimon Emperor, was going after Devimon when we were in the giant whirlpool, T.K suddenly became very angry and stormed off to find Ken. I don’t know what happened after that, but when I talked to him again, he was really distracted. I later found out from Yamato that Devimon was the one that reverted Patamon to a digiegg when they fought him back on his original adventure. T.K was really young then, about my age when we began our adventure, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it scared him badly.”

_“That would explain why he yelled ‘no one has to die!’ in his video.”_ Davis concluded.

“And you noticed how his whole attitude changed when we were trying to stop Blackwargreymon right?”

“Yeah. He kind of went mental.”

“Well it was because he thought he was pure evil and the darkness he was made of. After every time we confronted Blackwargreymon, he would get distant and a little moody.”

“Thanks Iori. I think this will really help us out.” Davis smiled. Yeah. This should do.

“Glad I could help. So I’m to assume I’m not to tell the others right?” Iori asked.

“Yeah. It would be bad if they got involved.” Davis confirmed.

“Ok. But let me know of the updates and if you need more info on T.K. I may have something else that can help.”

“Will do. Thanks Iori. You were a big help.”

“Be safe Davis.”

“Come on this is me we’re talking about. I’m the definition of safe.” Davis joked.

“Yeah. I know.”

And with that Davis hung up. He sighed in relief to find that Iori was cooperative and was still on good terms with Davis. Before he was about to address the others he made sure to save Iori’s number into his phone.

“Come on guys. We got us a password.”

 

“So who were you talking to?” Miyako asked as Iori finally returned from his long chat.

“Just a friend that moved away. They got a new phone so that’s why I didn’t recognize the number.” Iori answered. It wasn’t much of a lie so he didn’t have to worry about it too much.

“Really? What did they call you for?”

“Just some information. Like my number and such.” Iori picked up his spoon and began to eat his now melting ice cream.

“And that’s why it took you so long?” Hikari asked.

“Well we were just catching up as well. Been a while since I’ve seen them after all.”

“Well I can get that. Anyways where do you want to head next?”

While the two girls talked, they didn’t notice Iori looking at his phone under the table. He knew it was bad table manners, but he had to make sure to save Davis’s number before they go back to shopping.

“Ready Iori?”

“Yeah.” Iori finished the last of his ice cream before throwing it away and followed after the girls, happily stuffing his phone in his pocket. He knew he should worry about T.K, but when Davis was the one saving him, he knew the blonde should be safe.


	27. Entering the Playground Prison

“So what do you have on Takeru?” Calumon asked once they all entered the Digital World.

“Apparently, he has some complex to darkness. It makes him all riled up and angry.” Davis answered.

“So his afraid of the dark?” Marcus snorted.

“In a sense, yeah.”

“Ok. Calumon do your thing!” Jeri cheered.

“I’m on it.” Calumon flew up into the air and his red triangle began to glow. He closed his eyes. “There’s the fuzziness. Let’s see if this works. A complex to darkness.”

Soon Calumon’s triangle blinked a few times then turned to a green hue before dimming back to the regular red triangle.

“Hey! It worked!” Calumon cheered. “I found Takeru!”

“Sweet! Let’s head on over and save this guy!” Agumon happily said.

“This may be a bit tough so be careful everyone.” Veemon advised.

“We’ll be fine. Let’s go!” Marcus ordered.

Calumon nodded his head as he took the lead and headed off. The others quickly followed, with Jeri making sure to grab her rapier, the small white Digimon. The scenery was beginning to change. The boring gray grass soon became dull rainbow colors. Broken toys began to liter the area and candy wrappers or candy all together were abandoned on the ground. Soon a road of torn pillows was formed and the group treaded carefully over it.

“Woah.” Elecmon gasped looking up at the towering building. It was basically stacked, dull rainbow toy blocks. Some had letters, others had stars and some of them had hearts.

“Those kind of look like Primary Village plush block homes.” Veemon commented. “Except less plushy and more blocky.”

“Makes sense.” Davis tapped his chin. “Primary Village is the place of Digimon rebirth. If Patamon’s death is part of the problem, it would make a lot of sense.”

“Mmmm.” Marcus hummed as he stepped forward and looked around.

_“Oh yeah. Agumon got turned back into a digi-egg one time too huh?”_ Davis thought as he watched Marcus give one more look around.

“We should head in right away!” Agumon suggested.

“Right. The sooner the better.” Elecmon agreed.

With everyone else nodding in agreement, the group stepped into the dungeon. The dungeon had the same dull colors as the outside with broken toys, crushed candy and ripped up pillows lying about. The walls were just a dull egg white color with splotches of paint here and there. Some toy handcuffs were being hanged from the ceilings.

“Who would want to put their kid here?” Marcus asked.

“Did my dungeon have this same feeling?” Jeri shuddered. Davis nodded. It had just the same feeling of dread, sadness and anger as Jeri’s dungeon. Though it did have something else as well. Something Davis couldn’t quite pinpoint as there was another feeling similar to this in Jeri’s dungeon that left as soon as MadLeomon was defeated.

“I wonder what Digimon are here?” Elecmon sniffed the air. “It’s hard to smell anything over the crushed candy and paint.”

“Yeah. I can’t really sense many enemies either. Only the ones near us.” Calumon mumbled. “It’s going to be harder to get through this one then the last.”

“So we can’t tell how powerful the Digimon are.” Veemon muttered before looking over at Davis. “What do you think we should do?”

“We should probably inspect this floor and gain an understanding of how powerful the Digimon are here.” Davis advised. “Since the Digimon get stronger and stronger the further we go up, it would be a wise idea on what we can measure here first. If they prove to be too strong here, we’ll retreat and head to Jeri’s dungeon for training today and come back tomorrow and measure our power again.”

“And if we are strong enough?” Marcus asked.

“We’ll keep proceeding to the next floors until either, A: We can’t fight the now stronger floor so we’ll retreat and train at the previous floor, B: One of us is injured while going up and we have to return home, C: Veemon runs out of healing power and we haven’t picked up another Small Healing card to treat wounds and we run out of medical supplies, which I got.” Davis added once Agumon opened his mouth. The dinosaur shut his mouth and nodded for Davis to continue. “And finally D: We are all too exhausted to continue onward and we we’ll head home. Sound good?”

“Yes it sounds reasonable and it makes sure we aren’t too reckless.” Elecmon nodded in approval.

“What happens if we run into something like Boogeymon again?” Agumon asked.

“Then I suppose we will have to gauge our strength there. Elecmon and Calumon are good at sensing Digimon powers so we can ask them first once we see something like that again.” Veemon stated.

“Yeah. That sounds like a good idea.” Davis nodded his head.

“I have a question. What is something like Boogeymon?” Jeri asked.

“Were talking like a Digimon who’s like a boss fight in a video game.” Marcus explained. “They are tougher than the other Digimon, except for the Shadow Human’s, here. It took a lot of effort for me and Dai to beat him up ourselves.”

“Of course this is all in theory.” Davis interjected. “We can’t be exactly certain if T.K will even have one or if he has multiple ones, but since you guys are following the same pattern for now we can assume and prepare for this Boss Digimon.”

“Ok. I think I got it.” Jeri nodded her head in understanding. “I’ll try my best to help you guys out.”

“No worries. You’ll be pretty helpful. You know how to use these Digimon cards and skill cards the best and Leomon is pretty tough.” Veemon assured.

“I wouldn’t say I’m too strong I’m still a little rusty.” Elecmon huffed.

“If that’s rusty I don’t want to see you experienced.” Davis laughed. “Anyways, let’s move out.”

“Right!” The others cheered.

As they began to move on and look for the stairs that would lead to where T.K was at. Shadow Digimon blobs began popping up and swinging their heads side to side looking around. Once a couple spotted them they leapt forward and their shapes began to change.

“DemiDevimons!” Jeri called once the blobs took shape into dark colored forms of the Digimon.

“Any advice?” Davis asked.

“Some of them have a hypnotic spell on them and can also drain a human and Digimon’s energy with their Demi Darts.” Marcus called.

_“When was Marcus an encyclopedia?”_ Davis thought as he pulled out his Digivice. “So do we need to digivolve?”

“No. These guys are kind of weak. Just be careful of their status attacks.” Calumon answered.

“Ok then. Avoid and strike tactics then.” Veemon growled as he leapt forward and crashed his head against DemiDevimon’s. The small bat like Digimon was sent flying straight to Agumon who hopped up and launched his claws deep into the Shadow Digimon. It screeched before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Elecmon rushed forward and launched electricity up at the two remaining Digimon. The two DemiDevimon’s were shocked into place as the lightning came down on them.

“Ah! That’s their weakness!” Calumon cheered. “Since their all down, go for an all-out-attack!”

“Ready Jeri? Davis?” Marcus asked. The two nodded as the leapt forward with Marcus. While the two Shadow Digimon were knocked down Davis kicked one over to Jeri who she punctured with her rapier. Marcus on the other hand had already leapt at the other DemiDevimon and punched it straight into the ground. Both Shadow Digimon, once the others backed up, had disappeared in the usual black smoke.

“Whoo!” Jeri cheered. “We haven’t done something like that before.”

“Yeah. It seems to be a good tactic. We should use it when we have all the Digimon stunned like that.” Elecmon nodded in agreement.

“This sounds like some video game mechanic to me.” Davis mumbled but nodded his head in agreement anyways.

“How about we grabbed the goodies and head on?” Agumon suggested.

“Right. Let’s hurry up and go.”

“So DemiDevimon’s are here huh?” Jeri hummed as they trekked on. They had run into a few more already and Calumon had stated they were somewhere close to the stairs. “I suppose that makes sense.”

“Does it?” Davis asked as he turned his head.

“Yeah. When T.K was a kid in the Digital World, he got separated from his brother at an amusement park.” Jeri explained. “A DemiDevimon came along and tricked T.K that Yamato was never coming back for him and that Tokomon was being a real jerk to the small bat Digimon.”

“What was the point of that?”

“To make sure T.K’s crest of Hope never activated. He tricked him into thinking that Yamato didn’t care about him and that Tokomon was never really his friend in the first place.”

“That’s….” Davis paused. “That’s pretty bad.”

“It’s ok. Once Taichi came back everything went back to normal and he was able to reunite both Yamato and T.K.”

“I see.” Davis mumbled. “All the stuff that happened to T.K. He never seemed too bothered by it, well except from the moments Iori was able to see it was. But even then it only happened when it was pretty much brought up.”

“Yeah. Though it looks like it maybe did.” Jeri hummed as Marcus opened the door and exclaiming in joy when he found the door. “Then again. Everyone has that thing that they hide deep inside themselves they don’t want others to find.”

“That’s true.” Davis sighed. Jeri definitely had it. Davis knew he had his moments which became blatantly obvious after Veemon left. “You think Marcus and the Digimon have problems hiding inside them.”

“I never thought of that.” Jeri hummed, taking a quick glance at Elecmon who was up ahead discussing with Agumon about the Digimon on the floor. “Maybe I should talk to Elecmon more about it once we get back. I don’t want him to feel like he has to act strong.”

Davis looked further ahead at Veemon, who was talking with Calumon and Marcus about supplies with Calumon looking somewhat lost. “I should talk to Veemon too. His probably tired of my problems and would like to talk about his.”

“Hey. Don’t be stupid.” Jeri slapped his back. “You have a right to talk about your problems. I mean you say the ugliest part of me and still treat me well so I think I’d be willing to listen every once and a while. And I’m sure Veemon isn’t tired of it. Maybe of you hiding it though.”

“I’m not hiding it. I’m just not telling him.” Davis smiled.

Jeri puffed her cheeks, “Hey! If you got something on your mind let us know ok?”

“Fine. But the same applies to you.” Davis poked her cheek. “If you want to talk about what’s on your mind or about whatever happened with your shadow. Let us know. We’ll listen. Plus I’m positive Veemon is like Freud or something.”

Jeri laughed, “I’ll be sure to make an appointment with him then.”

The digivice beeped. Davis and Jeri both checked their digivices have gone up to Rank 3. They looked up and smiled up at each other.

“Hey! Can you two hurry up already?” Marcus yelled over once his conversation with Veemon and Calumon ended. “I’m pretty sure we have a blonde princess to rescue here.”

“Pfft.” Davis had to bring a hand to his mouth to make sure he didn’t burst out laughing.

“We’re on our way!” Jeri called as she rushed ahead to stand beside Elecmon who she gave a small smile too.

Davis swallowed his laughter and rushed after the others. He nodded to Marcus before ascending the next stairs. The area was more or less the same, the only difference being that being that the colors somehow became even more diluted then the last floor.

“I think I can sense stronger Digimon here.” Calumon spread his ears and he moved them in several random directions.

“So that was just the lackey floor?” Agumon asked.

“I suppose so.” Elecmon agreed looking around.

“Let’s be careful then.” Davis called as he took the lead and started forward.

“Hey. Dai.” Veemon spoke once he was able to match step with Davis. “I was thinking on the next group of Shadow Digimon, we could try some of those Digivolve cards.”

“Oh yeah.” Davis dug around his back pocket and pulled out four cards. “And… Hold on I have four now!”

“Did you make another bond?” Veemon asked curiously.

“Oh yeah! With Kanji and Aika!” Davis recalled. “I guess I got so caught up with what Mrs. Takeshi said, I forgot.”

“So. I got another digivolution?”

“Pretty much. We should really check these out in the next battle to see what each one is like. It would be a good idea to know what we have at our disposal.”

“So does that mean we can fight whatever we want?” Agumon asked cheerily.

“Only one fight though. We don’t want to waste too much energy.” Davis answered. “I have items that can replenish it, but I want to use those if we really need too.”

“Ok. Then let’s see….” Marcus looked around before smiling once he spotted a blob. “Ok, Let’s go!”

“Wait up!” Davis yelled after the brunette that rushed forward.

The blob immediately stopped and looked over at the others. It gave an evil, red grin as it began to take multiple shapes. A DemiDevimon, two Gazimon and a dark, purple, flaming lizard with a metal mask on its head.  

“That’s Darklizardmon.” Jeri spoke as they all took their stances on the enemy. “It’s a champion level Digimon.”

“Then this is a good time to test on of these out then.” Davis smirked as he pulled out the Hermit card. He grabbed his Digivice and swiped the card through the Digivice.

A light shined and went straight to Veemon. The small lizard grew taller and skinner. He gained light grey pants that were tattered at the bottom and was held by a two dark belts. He had green chains going across his white chest and they wrapped around to form an X. His blue skin became a lighter blue and three large claws protruded from both his feet. Her now wore a mask with two horns come from the top of it. The only thing you can see behind it was his red eyes. Red hair now appeared behind his head and you could see the usual blue ears coming out of it. Veemon gained two wood gloves that had small shields on them that was tied together by a red string. He also now had two wooden swords in both his hands. The only strange thing was the weird blue teddy bear on his back.

“Yaksamon!” The newly digivolved Yaksamon yelled.

“Yeah!” Agumon whistled.

“Ok go get them!” Davis cheered. With a nod Yaksamon leapt forward at incredible speed. He brought his blade up to one of the DemiDevimon and quickly swat it down to the ground and quickly used his other one to hit a Gazimon lunging for him.

“His speedy!” Elecmon gasped.

“Watch out!” Agumon called. Yaksamon turned around to be greeted by dark flames hit him right in the face by Darklizardmon. The Digimon fell over with a thud and Davis felt a sharp pain in his stomach and had to kneel down to help with coping the pain that suddenly sprung up.

“Hey!” A deep voice called as Davis felt his body move with a sudden force. He looked up to see Leomon had just moved him out of the way of a Gazimon lunging to slash him. “Are you all right Davis?”

“Y-yeah.” Davis flinched as he stepped back and poked his stomach. The pain was still there, but not as bad as when he first received it. “But what about Yakasmon?”

“His fine.” Agumon called as he counted Darklizardmon’s fire. “He just de-digivolved.”

“Veemon!” Davis leapt forward grabbed his partner who had just stood up. “Are you ok?”

“Ow! Yeah.” Veemon chuckled weakly. “It’s just that the fire was hotter then it usually was.”

“But aren’t you resistant to fire?” Jeri asked.

“Yeah I am. But I don’t Yaksamon is.”

“So you gain and lose weaknesses with each new digivolution.” Davis mumbled. “Probably should have thought about that. I’ll have to remember Yaksamon is weak to fire.”

“Trust me. If you don’t, I will.” Veemon shook his head.

Leomon lunged forward and slashed at the Darklizardmon with his sword. The lizard hissed before trying another attack before being countered by Agumon who had slashed the Shadow Digimon in the face. It gave one last hiss before disappearing into smoke. Marcus had already finished off the Gazimon and Jeri and Davis made quick work of the DemiDevimon, while Veemon quickly healed his wounds.

“Ok. So we learned to be careful with Digivolution.” Davis sighed. Before turning to Leomon. “Anyways, how did you digivolve so fast and grab me to get me away from the Gazimon’s attack.”

“What do you mean?” Leomon asked. “You had kneeled down for a good couple minutes.”

“Huh?” Davis gasped. “But it only felt like a few seconds.”

“Nope, you were down for quite a while. Plus we kept yelling at you and Veemon to get up, but you didn’t.” Agumon gave a puzzled look. “Did you not hear us?”

“I didn’t hear anything.” Veemon shook his head. “What about you Dai?”

“No.” Davis tapped his chin.

“Hey why did you kneel like that anyways?” Marcus asked. “It happened right when Yaksamon got hit by the flames and all of a sudden both of you were down.”

“I just felt this sharp pain in my stomach all of a sudden and I couldn’t help it.”

“I think I know what happened there.” Jeri spoke up. “I remember my friends talking about this before. When their Digimon got hurt, they felt the same pain as them. Like say if Guilmon got punched in the gut during battle, Takato would have that same feeling of being punched in the gut. Though it only happened when they were both on the same page and had their feelings as one. Not when a Digimon is hit by their weakness.”

“So what you’re saying is that when Veemon’s weakness is hit, Davis will also feel the pain?” Marcus asked.

“Yep.”

“I don’t think it’s just between Davis and Veemon. I think it can be said for me and Jeri and you and Agumon.” Elecmon suggested. “So I think we should all be careful.”

“Ok. Then I’ll make sure to keep track of everyone’s weakness!” Calumon cheered. “I can already sense what they are anyways so it shouldn’t be that hard.”

“You can do that too?” Agumon asked.

“Yep! Yep!”

Davis shook his head. Calumon was getting and stranger each passing day.

“So should we carry on? I don’t think Takeru has all day to wait for us.” Elecmon said.

“Right! Let’s carry on!” Veemon cheered. Everyone nodded as they headed deeper into the dungeon.


	28. Side Chapter 2: Just an AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short little chapter because we all need to see Takeru in a frilly princess dress.

“Takeru! We’re here!” Davis slammed open the final door of the dungeon, the rest of the group following close behind him. After a long dungeon and with all the creepy toys and handcuffs, they were finally able to reach the final floor.

“D-davis?” T.K gasped in shock.

“Yeah….” Davis paused as soon as he saw Takeru and turned away. “What are you wearing?”

“Holy…!” Marcus gasped and started laughing. “I didn’t actually mean what I said about rescuing a princess!”

Right in the middle of the room, sitting in a pink, frilly, puffy dress was a blushing T.K who buried his face into his hands as soon as Marcus had started laughing. Agumon soon joined in on the laughter, Leomon had to cover his, Jeri was covering her mouth and stifling her giggles, and Veemon was staring wide eyed in shock.

“So Takeru really is a girl? You guys told me he was a guy!” Calumon huffed. Jeri couldn’t hold back anymore and doubled over laughing apologizing to T.K all the while.

“Oh god…. Why did they have to see me like this….” T.K mumbled into his hands.

“Are you wearing a corset?” Veemon asked.

“He sure is!” Shadow T.K giggled from behind T.K. “See I told you would look pretty.”

“You did this willingly?” Marcus howled with laughter as he joined Jeri on the floor.

Davis turned his head and looked T.K up and down. The poor blonde princess was covering his face as best he could to avoid the stares of the others and Davis could see the boy’s ears burning.

“Hey! Hey Davis!” Shadow T.K hopped over and slung an arm over Davis’s shoulder. “What do you think? Takeru’s pretty right?”

“Well I’m not going to deny it.” Davis chuckled. T.K’s head shot up and glared at Davis before going back to hide his face.

“Then you should take a picture it will last longer.” Shadow T.K giggled.

Davis’s eyes widened as he fumbled in his pockets for a bit before pulling out his sky blue phone. He crouched by T.K and began taking pictures, hoping to some Digimon god that these pictures would not be distorted in any way since they were in some messed up Digital World. T.K lifted his head up and glared at Davis.

“Screw you Davis.” He growled. “And to think I actually wanted you to rescue me.”

Davis just shrugged and smiled, “Don’t blame me, blame the shadow.”


	29. Entering the Playground Prison Part 2

“So how many floors you think are here?” Marcus asked after they found the next set of stairs.

“My guess, from how many blocks were stacked up together, about ten.” Elecmon stated.

“But we’re only on the fourth floor.” Agumon whined. “How much longer will going up these floors take?”

“I know right! I hoped for an escalator! But they said I wasn’t allowed to have one.” A cheerful voice sounded.

Everyone whipped forward to notice T.K, with glowing yellow eyes staring right at them with a smile on his face.

“Is that?” Davis asked.

“Davis!” Shadow T.K’s eyes widen in shock and he bounded over. “What are you doing here? I mean I knew somebody would come, but not you.”

“Huh?”

“T.K?” Veemon asked.

“No! I’m Takeru!” Shadow Takeru angrily growled and all of a sudden, he bursted into tears.

“Hey! Why is he crying?” Calumon asked.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Shadow Takeru repeated before he turned on his heel and ran the rest down the hallway.

“Wait!” Leomon unsheathed his sword and was about to bound forward when Darklizardmons and DemiDevimons blocked his path.

“We need to follow him!” Davis whipped out his digivice.

“No need to tell us twice!” Jeri called.

Marcus was the first to leap forward and he punched one of the DemiDevimon in the head. As soon as he received that orange glow on his fist he digivolved Agumon into GeoGreymon.

“Davis!” Veemon turned over to his partner. Davis nodded as he pulled out the chariot card. He immediately slid it through.

Veemon grew in shape in a flash of light. He had grown an extra pair of legs with his feet turning into hooves. The blue and white left his body to be replaced by a tan like skin. Purple spots appeared all around his body with one of his hands become completely metallic and the other turning into to a small cannon and to top it off he had a metal helmet on his head.

“Centarumon!” Centarumon called before galloping forward and launching blasts of energy from his cannon hand.

“Davis. I can still faintly sense Shadow Takeru on this floor!” Calumon announced.

“What about T.K?” Davis asked.

“Mmmm.” Calumon shook his head, “No. But I can only sense things when I’ve have been able to catch their Digital Trace.”

“So it’s possible his on this floor?” Jeri asked.

“Yeah but small.”

“Ok. Then we need to blast through these!” Davis nodded.

“Yeah. I would love to do that but,” Marcus dryly said, “But there is a ton of them over here!”

“Dai. I think I should go to another form.” Centarumon advised.

Davis scrolled through the options on his Digivice before finally deciding to use Veedramon. Centarumon glowed for a couple of seconds before transforming into the bulky dinosaur. He swiped incoming Darklizardmon with his tail and fire a hot blue flame from his mouth towards the hoards of DemiDevimon.

“Then maybe I should use this!” Jeri meddled with her jacket pocket before pulling out a card and sliding it through her digivice.

“Jeri what are you?”

“LadyDevimon’s Darkness Spear!” Leomon shouted raising his arm up. His entire arm formed into something black spear and he suddenly launched forward, piercing the Digimon in front of him.

“You can do stuff like that?” Everyone asked at once.

“Yep.” Jeri happily giggled as Leomon hopped back, the dark spear disappearing from his arm.

“Well I think I can try to top that.” Davis pulled out his cards and looked at all the Digimon and smiled when he saw one. “Ok. Let’s go Seadramon! Guys get ready for an all-out attack”

Davis slid the card down and soon a fuzzy image of a large eel, blue Digimon appear beside Veedramon.

_“Ice Blast!”_ Seadramon called before launching ice at the crowd of Shadow Digimon in front of him before vanishing again.

“Mega Burst/Fist of the Beast King/V-Breath Arrow!” The other Digimon shouted, launching their attacks and blowing up the rest of the Digimon hoard.

“Is that all of them?” Marcus asked.

GeoGreymon swung his head around before turning his head over to the others, “Yeah. We finally cleared them all out.”

“Why did they all show up like that?” Veedramon asked.

“It was probably Shadow Takeru who summoned them.” Leomon answered. “If his the strongest thing here it would be no surprise the Shadow Digimon would listen to him.”

“Then we need to be careful not to upset him then huh?” Jeri hummed. “Otherwise he’ll keep throw Shadow Digimon at us.”

“Right. Let’s find him and see if we can talk to him.” Davis nodded his head before turning his attention to Calumon. “Is he still on this floor?”

“No. He escaped sometime during the fight.” Calumon shrunk his ears before shooting them up again. “But I can sense him on the next floor.”

“Then let’s head up there and get him as soon as we can!” Marcus punched his fist.

“Let’s try to be stealthy though. We probably want to save our energy if we upset him again.” Veedramon advised before de-digivolving into Veemon. The others nodded and soon GeoGreymon was back to being Agumon before they set off.

_“NO! No! Patamon!” _ T.K’s voice echoed throughout the halls once the group reached the next floor. _“It’s all my fault… Why couldn’t I do anything?”_

“What the?” Marcus got into a fighting stance.

“What is that?” Jeri asked.

“These are Takeru’s true thoughts.” Calumon answered. “They are being projected throughout the entire dungeon.”

“So we can hear what his trying to hide?” Davis asked.

“Yeah.”

“This didn’t happen with Jeri’s dungeon though.” Veemon pondered.

“I think it’s because Takeru’s shadow is stronger than Jeri’s and that this place is a lot larger.”

“That would make sense.” Davis nodded. “Ok. Then let’s hurry up and get out of here before I hear something I don’t want to hear.”

“Ok! Shadow Takeru is definitely on this floor.”

“Then let’s go!” Marcus started forward and everyone followed close behind.

The hallway they were in was going on for quite a while before a large door was finally found at the end of the hallway. Marcus pushed open the door and standing in the middle of the room was Shadow Takeru who turned around at the sound of the door opening.

“Hello!” Shadow Takeru waved. “So you guys are super determined to save me huh?”

“T.K- Takeru.” Davis corrected himself when he saw Shadow Takeru’s expression darken.

“Ah! Davis! You still trying to save me too?”

“Well, yeah.”

“….” Shadow Takeru bowed his head. Probably contemplating what he wanted to say next before he lifted it back up, his child like smile gone and replaced with an indifferent face. “In all honesty I’m quite shocked. Thought for sure you would leave me for dead after what I did to you.”

“What he did to you?” Jeri asked. She turned a worried gaze to a stiffened Davis. “What’s he talking about.

“He hasn’t told you? I guess it’s no surprise, what I did was awful.” Shadow Takeru turned his head away. “I guess this is why I can’t do anything right or on my own.”

“Takeru….” Davis took a step forward and Takeru whipped around and glared at him, tears staining his cheeks.

“Why do you forgive me? I hurt you!” Shadow Takeru took a step back. “Why are you coming to save me? Why do you not hate me?”

“Takeru!”

“Leave me alone! I can save myself! I can protect myself! I’ll keep everyone safe! I won’t mess up and let others clean up my messes again! I won’t hurt you or anyone else again!”

Suddenly the lights turned off. Davis leapt forward in hopes of grabbing Takeru, but felt arms grab and pull him back. He turned his head to see blue eyes staring ahead.

“Leomon! Why did-“ Davis began but was shushed.

“A Digimon’s here.” Leomon hissed.

The lights flickered back on and in place of Shadow Takeru was a large blue dinosaur with a tail that split into two somewhere in the middle. He had one hand as a giant dinosaur skull and the other was more serpent like with metal at the top of his head and drool coming out of it.

“Deltamon!” Davis and Veemon shouted at once.

“Triple Forces!” The large dinosaur yelled. He brought his heads together and focused as a large energy ball formed in the center.

“Run!” Davis shouted. Everyone scattered immediately right when a single beam crashed where they all were gathered.

“Ok. Big guy. Try this!” Marcus leapt up and punched Deltamon in the center head. The dragon growled as it took a step back and rubbed where it was punched.

Seeing the chance, Marcus and Davis immediately grabbed their digivices and began the Digivolution. GeoGreymon charged forward and started to push Deltamon back. The larger dinosaur growled in annoyance as he began to fight back and push GeoGreymon further and further back. He raised his hands and had them bite GeoGreymon.

“ARGH!” GeoGreymon roared in pain, slipping even more.

“Flamedramon! Leomon! You need to get those heads off him!” Davis commanded.

The two Digimon nodded as the rushed forward to the side.

“Flaming Fist!” Flamedramon launched fire balls from his fists right onto the skull head. The head retreated and started firing beams at Flamedramon, which the armored Digimon was narrowly avoiding.

“Fist of the Beast King!” Leomon launched his attack at the other, more snake like head. It hissed in annoyance and gave an angry glare at Leomon before diving down and trying to swallow him whole. The champion pulled out his sword and used it to stop the head from chomping down.

“Leomon!” Jeri called worriedly.

“I’m fine Jeri.” Leomon reassured as he held onto the sword tightly.

“We need a plan.” Marcus growled.

“A back attack should work, but that would mean we need to get behind him.” Davis muttered.

“Can’t you try one of those cards you have?”

“Not possible. The Digimon always appear wherever Veemon is at and currently,” Davis pointed to Flamedramon, who was still dodging the rabid fire beams, “they would get hit right off the bat.”

“Do we need to retreat?” Calumon asked.

Davis sucked in a breath. They couldn’t retreat, it wasn’t like with Boogeymon were they couldn’t beat him, they just needed a strategy.

“No. We aren’t completely outclassed here.” Davis answered before turning to Jeri. “Jeri, do you have any cards that may be useful right now?”

“Let me check.” Jeri pulled out a deck of cards and looked through them. “Ah! Fire booster!”

“Eh? But Leomon can’t use fire abilities.” Marcus leaned forward.

“No… But GeoGreymon can.” Jeri beamed and pushed the card into Marcus’s hand. “If you use this, GeoGreymon’s Mega Burst will be even more powerful!”

“That’s brilliant!” Davis cheered. “That should cause a flinch and allow Flamedramon and Leomon to dive in for an attack!”

“A booster?” Marcus looked at the card and then took a hold of his digivice. “Though I don’t like it, I’ll give it a shot. You hear that GeoGreymon! Get ready to use Mega Burst on my signal!”

“You got it boss!” GeoGreymon grunted.

Marcus slid the card down the digivice. It beeped once before GeoGreymon started giving of an orange glow.

“Ok! Now!” Marcus called.

“Mega Burst!” GeoGreymon called opening his mouth and letting out a much larger flame out of his mouth.

Deltamon roared in agony before bringing his snake arm up to his face. Leomon took this as his chance and leapt forward and slashed the snake head. This brought immediate attention of the Skull head which stopped firing at Flamedramon at this point and moved over to attack Leomon. Flamedramon finally being able to move jumped and covered his entire body in flame and crashed into the skull head.

“Now for this!” Davis whipped out a Digimon card and slid it through. Soon a fuzzy version of Garurumon appeared beside Flamedramon.

_“Howling Blaster!”_ The wolf called before unleashing a blue flame on all three heads.

“The stomach is unguarded!” Jeri suggested.

“Finish it!” Marcus called.

“Fire Rocket/Mega Burst/Fist of the Beast King!” All three Digimon stepped back to the damaged Deltamon before launching their attacks at the vulnerable stomach. Once the attacks hit, a hole appeared in Deltamon’s stomach. It gave one last cry before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

“Phew.” Davis rubbed the sweat off his forehead before turning to his friends. “That was kind of tough.”

“Yeah. If Shadow Takeru is even stronger than that, we’ll need to be extra careful.” Jeri sighed.

“How are you guys holding up?” Marcus asked the Digimon who had de-digvolved and regrouped with their partners.

“Veemon and I are fine, but what about you Agumon?” Elecmon asked.

Everyone turned to the yellow dinosaur as he wobbly walked over. He nearly tipped over but was steadied by Jeri and Veemon.

“Agumon!” Marcus knelt by his and let him lean on his shoulder. “How you holding up?”

“It hurts around the shoulders, arms and a little in the head, but I’ll be fine.” Agumon sighed.

“He doesn’t look to be holding up to well. Veemon?” Davis motioned to his partner. Veemon nodded as he put his hands forward and concentrated.

“Small Heal!” Veemon whispered. His hands glowed and the areas where Agumon had bruises or teeth marks glowed as they began to disappear slightly. “Looks like I’ll have to use it again.”

Once that was done, Veemon sat down to catch his breath while Agumon rolled his shoulder and arms. The large Rookie moved around a little bit to be sure he wasn’t going to topple over.

“You didn’t use up to much energy did you?” Davis asked.

“No. It just takes a makes me feel a little light headed for a bit.” Veemon smiled before standing up again.

“That would make sense as you aren’t a healing Digimon.” Elecmon shook his head. “Though it is quite admirable you can still go on like you do after using so many healing abilities.”

“Veemon how about you allow us to use these recovery items for a bit so you don’t use too much of your energy.” Jeri suggested.

“Yeah. I would really appreciate it.” Veemon sighed.

“It’s probably for the best. It takes a lot of your energy to use that technique. You may not even be able to digivolve if you keep using it.” Davis agreed. “Ok. For now we’ll take a small break and continue on.”

“Sweet! Is there anything to eat? I’m starving!” Agumon licked his lips.

“I brought some leftovers from the restaurant for all of us to eat.” Jeri pulled off her backpack and opened it to reveal tons of bread sandwiches.

“Yay!” Calumon dived into backpack, rustled around before falling out with a sandwich in his hands. Veemon and Agumon were the next to rush and grab some food with Elecmon following much more calmly behind them, though seemed to be just as excited to get his share.

“This looks good. Thanks Jeri.” Davis smiled as he took out some Guilmon bread and took a bite out of it. He turned to Marcus who was staring ahead. “Hey Marcus you want some?”

Marcus turned his head and smiled, “Yeah of course I do!”

He walked forward and swiped the Guilmon bread from Davis’s hand. Davis made a noise of offense as Marcus took a bite of the bread with the widest grin on his face.

“I didn’t say you could take mine!” Davis whined as he tried to take the bread back but Marcus just leaned his arm back and used the other one to push Davis away.

“Should have been more specific Dai.” Marcus smirked as he took another bit out of the bread.

“You knew exactly what I meant!”

“You never know.”

Davis pouted as he turned on his heel and went back to Jeri’s bag. The girl was giggling behind her hand. Davis glared at her once she gave him another Guilmon bread and sat down away from Marcus, who he was sending daggers to before beginning to eat his.

“You probably should have seen that coming.” Agumon laughed.

“Shut up Agumon.”  


	30. Poison

“Are we there yet?” Agumon and Calumon whined in usion for about the fourth time since their break. They had just finished the eighth floor and were climbing the stairs to the ninth floor.

“Shh!” Veemon shushed. “We need to be careful here, we’re reaching the second to last floor.”

“What’s on the second to last floor?” Jeri asked.

“If the pattern continues here, a powerful Digimon should be guarding the door to the final room where, presumably here, T.K and his shadow are.” Davis answered.

“That’s why we need to scout out the stuff first and stay quiet.” Marcus glared over at Agumon and Calumon at his final words. “We don’t want them getting the first hit, we need that advantage.”

“Look who’s getting all tactical.”

Marcus rolled his eyes, “Ah shut it Dai.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t steal my food!”

“Hey! It was up for grabs!”

“What happened to being quiet?” Elecmon asked once Davis and Marcus started yelling at each other. The two boys turned from the front of the group to see the others watching with amusement.

 Davis blushed and quietly apologized and Marcus shrugged his shoulders as if nothing happened before they began heading further up the stairs. Soon the group had reached the top and took sheltered behind a column of blocks to look further inside the wide open space that was covered in spider webs. Davis peered further ahead to see the door more likely than not leading to the final room completely covered thickly in cobwebs.

“So, no one has a fear of spiders right?” Davis asked.

“Hmmm. My guess is that has Dokugumon.” Elecmon advised. “Don’t touch the webs, the poison can enter your pores and can cause a lot of harm to your body system.”

“We’ll keep that in mind.” Marcus scanned the room, eyes completely narrowed. “Where is the puny spider anyways?”

Suddenly a large creature fell from the ceiling. The others flinched from the abrupt entrance as a giant black spider with a yellow mask with eight green eyes was scanning the room.

“Holy mother of spiders!” Veemon gasped.

“So that’s what we have to deal with?” Agumon growled.

“Should be no problem. We can lure it onto the webs and set the webs on fire.” Davis smirked confidently. “Should be no problem with GeoGreymon and Flamedramon.”

“No. A Dokugumon’s webs are much more resilient to fire then you think. The stronger the Dokugumon, the more resistance to flames.”

“Well that complicates things considering the size of that thing.” Jeri frowned. “So we have to find a way to beat it while avoiding the webs?”

“That seems like what we have to do.” Davis growled. “Ok. Marcus, its back is turned so now would be a good time to….”

“On it!” Marcus rushed around the corner and leapt up. The Dokugumon had turned to look at him to be met in the face with fist.

“Now!” Davis whipped out his digivice and Jeri followed closely behind.

Leomon was the first to jump into the fight, blocking one of Dokugumon’s hands from hitting Marcus. X-Veemon flew up next and punched the giant spider on the back. The Shadow Digimon screeched before shaking him off and crawling on to the webs.

“We won’t let you escape that easily!” GeoGreymon growled, launching fire where Dokugumon was at. The spider turned it head and let spat out a stream of web at the incoming fire. The two collided and the web took most of the blow as GeoGreymon stopped his attack.

“Dang it!” Marcus clicked his tongue.

Dokugumon cackled before spitting more web at GeoGreymon. The dinosaur was caught off guard as the webs hit and tied up his body.

“GeoGreymon!”

“Argh!” GeoGreymon fell to one knew panting heavily.

“The poison is already entering his body!” Leomon drew out his swords and quickly cut the web off of GeoGreymon.

“I’m fine.” GeoGreymon stood up shakily. “Mega Burst!”

GeoGreymon let out another round of flame, but this time it was much weaker and slower than the previous one so all Dokugumon had to do was dodge the attack.

“Do we have anything for poison?” Marcus asked.

“No.” Davis growled in annoyance.

“I think I have something!” Jeri pulled out another card and slid it through her Digivice.

Leomon glowed a light pink before hopping on top of GeoGreymon.

“MarineAngemon’s Ocean Love!” Leomon called and soon GeoGreymon was covered in the same pink light.

GeoGreymon shook his head as he stood up on his two legs again. He was still a little shaky but he was slowly recovering.

“I need to buy some of those cards.” Marcus mumbled.

“We can go shopping for cards later. For now let’s focus on the deadly giant spider!”  Davis sighed.

Dokugumon opened its mouth once again. X-Veemon, seeing what the spider was doing, launched forward and punched the large spider in the face. Leomon jumped forward and gave a follow up punch to the spider. GeoGreymon, upon seeing his chance, opened his mouth and was charging a Mega Burst.

“Move!” Calumon called.

X-Veemon grabbed Leomon and flew out of the way as the flame came down on the spider. Dokugumon gave out a screech before it started to shrink down.

“Ha! Take that!” Marcus celebrated.

“I guess he wasn’t that big of a deal after all.” Jeri smiled happily she scratched the side of her arm. “Good thing, too as I’m not that big on spiders.”

“What?” Davis stood there shocked as he watched the flames end and the spider gone.

“Dokugumon’s aren’t very strong in the first place so it’s no shock we were able to beat it so easily after we cured GeoGreymon’s poison and then attacked like that.” Leomon stated proudly.

_“No it couldn’t have been that easy.”_ Davis looked around, but no signs of the spider where anywhere.

“Look the webbing’s gone!” Agumon yelled, pointing over to the now free door.

“Great let’s head go save Takeru!” Calumon cheered. The others agreed as the started heading towards the door, only Veemon and Davis stood back.

“You feel uneasy too huh?” Veemon asked. His eyes were narrowed looking around.

“Of course I do. No fight can be that easy, especially the one right before the final door.” Davis answered. “Hey guys! Fall back for a bit!”

“Eh?” Marcus turned his head over before shrugging his shoulders and walking back to Davis with the rest.

“Something wrong?” Jeri asked.

“Yeah. I don’t think were done quite yet.” Davis warned.

Everyone immediately stiffened looking around for the Digimon, the only one staying positive was Calumon.

“Ah it’s all right Dai!” Calumon cheered. “I don’t sense Dokugumon anymore. Only regular Shadow Digimon and Shadow Takeru!”

“Well, I’d rather be safe than sorry.” Veemon shuddered. “I had a friend who got poisoned by a Dokugumon before.”

“It’s fine! Here I’ll show you!”

“Calumon wait!” Marcus called as the small white Digimon flew forward to the center of the room. Marcus looked up and his eyes widened before sprinting after Calumon.

“What did he…?” Leomon looked up in response and froze. The others followed his gaze to see four large Dokugumon’s up above.

Davis immediately grabbed his Digivice and digivolved Veemon into Yaksamon. The newly digivolved Digimon sprang forward in hopes of catching up to the two.

“Huh?” Calumon looked over to see Marcus catching up to him.

His ears wiggled a bit before looking up to see the Dokugumon above him. He froze in terror as the one of them soon let a string of web out of his mouth. Calumon watched as it got closer and closer before a body came between him and the webbing.

“Marcus!” Calumon screamed as the webbing surrounded the brunette.

“Marcus!” Yaksamon yelled as he used his wooden sword the cut through the webbing. Marcus fell to his knees panting. He was already sweating profusely and his normally bright emerald eyes had become dull.

“Hey you all right?” Marcus gasped over to Calumon who flew down and was looking at Marcus worriedly with shrunken ear.

“Y-yeah.” Calumon answered.

“We have to move!” Yaksamon picked up the two suddenly and leapt back forward towards Davis, Jeri and Leomon.

“Marcus!” Jeri called as the boy was set down, but instead of standing straight or going to his knees, the ultimate fighter fell straight to the ground. “Marcus!”

Davis stood there in shock, not noticing the Dokugumon falling from the ceiling and landing on the ground.

“Boss!” Agumon was on his knees shaking Marcus. The brunette didn’t respond as he lay limply in his partner’s arms.

“Marcus?” Davis was the next to kneel down and look at his friend, whose eyes were closed. “Marcus!”

Leomon put a finger over Marcus neck, after a few seconds he pulled his hand away.

“His still has a pulse. He wasn’t in the webbing for too long to make it that dangerous, but he can still die if he doesn’t get medical attention.” Leomon advised.

“Ok then all we have to do is use.” Jeri looked through her cards before gasping. “I-it isn’t here.”

“What?”

“Marineangemon’s Ocean Love card is gone!” Jeri said worriedly.

“What do you mean it’s gone?” Agumon asked.

“I don’t have it anymore!”

“There!” Yaksamon pointed his sword.

Everyone turned their heads to see a small Dokugumon carrying the card in its mouth as it approached the larger of its kind. Once there, the small spider climbed onto the larger ones and was soon absorbed by the spider, the card disappearing along with it.

“No!” Davis yelled.

“Dai, did you get anything for poison?” Yaksamon asked.

Davis threw his backpack to the front of him and began digging through the entire thing. All he could find were some first aid kits, tea, water, cups, and some emergency provisions.

“No!” Davis growled taking some of the tea packets and throwing it to the ground. Suddenly realization hit him as picked up the tea packet and pulled out a water bottle and cup.

“The Dokugumon are coming!” Jeri warned. Leomon and Yaksamon turned their heads and rushed towards the approaching Dokugumon, being careful not to be hit by their webs.

“What are you doing?” Agumon asked angrily as Davis put the tea packet into the water bottle.

“This tea helps with poison!” Davis answered as he swished the bottle around. He cursed himself for not preparing to make this earlier since the instructions read that it would take thirty minutes at minimum to finish.

Davis took a look at Marcus who looked like he was in pain. Davis flinched as he placed the bottle down and brought a hand to his head.

_“I should have been more prepared. I should have made this beforehand. I should have known poison could happen, even after being told DemiDevimon can cause some bad status conditions.”_ Davis mentally berated himself.

“It may be a good idea to escape now.” Jeri advised. She looked over to Calumon who was watching Marcus with shrunk ears and empty eyes.

“Your right.” Davis agreed standing up. He looked over to see that one of the Dokugumon was already defeated and Leomon and Yaksamon were moving on to the next one. “Yaksamon! Leomon! We need to retreat!”

“Got it!” Leomon responded turning around and bounding to the others, Yaksamon following closely behind.

“Calumon?” Jeri asked. When she didn’t get a response she called again, “Calumon!”

“Yeah. I’m on it.” Calumon flew up. His red triangle blinked a few times before a white light shined around the group before they all reappeared at the front of the dungeon.

Leomon automatically picked up Agumon, Jeri and Calumon while Yaksamon picked up Davis and Marcus and they rushed back to the entrance to the real world. Yaksamon handed Davis Marcus, with Davis having a hard time keeping the larger boy in his arms, while Jeri brought out her Digivice and pointed it at the T.V. Davis went over first and allowed himself to be sucked in.

When he landed on the other side he ran over to a more populated part of the store before falling to his knees with Marcus in his arms.

“Help! We need a doctor!” Davis yelled. Many people turned to him and soon an uproar began as people either scrambled to find something to help Marcus and others going off and calling an ambulance.

Davis took a look down at Marcus, not noticing Jeri had caught up with him, and felt worry grip his stomach.

_“Please be ok Marcus.”_


	31. Bedridden

“Luckily, he’ll be ok.” The doctor finally announced. Davis, Jeri and her family breathed a sigh of relief at the doctor’s words. “Good thing you had that tea on you, it did help when it finished on the way to here.”

“That’s good to know.” Davis smiled. Marcus was laying in the hospital bed. He was still asleep, but at least he looked more peaceful now.

“I must say, that must have been some spider to poison him like this.” The doctor continued. “This happened somewhere outside of Junes right?”

“Yes. He got bitten, but we didn’t pay any mind to it until he had collapsed.” Davis lied.

“Well anyways. All Marcus needs is some rest at home and he’ll be good as new in a couple of days.”

“Ok then. We’ll take him home now.” Mr. Katou nodded. “Davis, can you push the wheelchair while I bring the van up to the front.”

“Yes sir!” Davis went over to Marcus, and with help from one of the nurses, was able to put Marcus in the wheelchair and began to push him out to the entrance. Jeri’s step mother and half-brother had already gone off with Mr. Katou to the car.

“I’m glad Marcus is going to be ok. I was really worried for a second.” Jeri sighed in relief.

“I hope he gets better soon.” Davis agreed.

“No worries, the Boss is really tough. Some spider poison isn’t going to keep him down!” Agumon cheered from Marcus’s digivice. Though he was trying to sound encouraging, his voice still shook a little with worry.

“We better make sure he doesn’t push himself though.” Elecmon advised. “He really needs his rest since a human can’t take as much poison as a Digimon.”

“Why do I have a feeling he’ll do something crazy if we try to keep him in bed.” Veemon voiced.

“…..” Calumon stayed silent.

“How are you holding up Calumon? You didn’t get hit by the poison did you?”

“No. I’m fine.” Calumon whispered.

Jeri and Davis exchanged glances. Calumon wasn’t usually so silent. When Jeri opened her mouth, her father honked the horn and pulled up. She closed her mouth before helping Davis put Marcus in the car. After Davis gave the wheelchair back to the hospital, he entered the van and the group went back to the Katou residence.

Mr. Katou and Davis grabbed Marcus by the arms and legs and carried him up the junior’s room. Davis noted how much heavier Marcus was now that he wasn’t running on adrenaline. After some work, they were able to put the sick teen in his bed.

“Thanks for the help Davis.” Mr. Katou said after exiting the room, leaving only Marcus and Agumon in there. “How about I fix you something to eat huh? I know you and Veemon probably need it.”

“Yes please!” Veemon cheered, popping out of the digivice and happily nodding his head.

With a laugh, Mr. Katou went down stairs nearly bumping into his daughter along the way.

“Hey Davis, Veemon.” Jeri greeted as she walked over to the boy and lizard, Elecmon and Calumon following closely behind. “You holding up?”

Davis dropped the smile he was holding and nodded his head, “Yeah. Just… worried is all.”

“I’m shaken up too.” Veemon agreed.

“That’s understandable.” Elecmon stated. “We could have lost him.”

Calumon flinched, but nodded in agreement.

“So we have to hold off on rescuing T.K right?” Jeri asked.

“Yeah. We’ll have a hard time without Marcus and Agumon.” Davis sighed. “They’re like our tanks in video games, even down to being integral to the team.”

“Ok. It’s only a couple of days, probably not even more than three. After today, we still have seven days left.” Jeri reassured. “I’m sure we will be able to save T.K.”

“I know.” Davis gaze drifted to the closed door of Marcus’s room. _“Could I have prevented all of this from happening?”_

Jeri reached her hand forward before reluctantly pulling it back, “How about you stay the night?”

“Huh?” Davis blinked in surprise.

“Of course I’ll have to ask my parents, and you probably have to ask your guardian, but that way we can have someone other than Agumon keeping an eye on Marcus.”

“Won’t you be keeping an eye on him Jeri?” Veemon asked.

“Her father insists she doesn’t stay in Marcus’s room overnight.” Elecmon answered. “So we wouldn’t have someone who can travel freely throughout the house and restaurant.”

“Oh. I see.”

“Sure!” Davis agreed before stopping. “Oh hold on. I can’t leave Akiko home alone.”

“Wouldn’t her parents be there?”

Davis shook his head, “No her father works late and her mother is working overseas right now.”

“Oh. I see.” Jeri hummed.

“I’ll call her now to make sure she’s all right.” Davis said before moving further down the hall and pulling out his cell phone. After a few rings, someone finally picked up.

_“_ Hello?” A man’s voice said.

“Mr. Mochida?” Davis asked shocked.

“Ah! Hey Daisuke! I was wondering where you were at!” Mochida laughed. “So has Akiko too. She keeps asking me when you and your toy will be back.”

“I’m over at my friend’s house right now.” Davis answered. “What are you doing home?”

“I got off early. With what’s been going on lately I thought they would be keeping me longer.”

“Uh yeah…” _“Where do you work again?”_

“Anyways, why are you calling here and not heading back.”

“Just calling to make sure Aki is all right.” Davis answered.

“Aww. That’s sweet of you Daisuke. I’ll let her know that.”

“Well you don’t have too…!”

“Akiko! Daisuke here was calling to make sure you were doing all right! And that he loves you!”

_“I didn’t add on that last part!”_ Davis thought angrily with a blush. _“Not that I’m arguing though.”_

“Really?” Akiko’s voice sounded from the other side of the receiver. “Love you too Daisuke!”

“You two have certainly grown close.”  Mr. Mochida commented. Davis could just imagine the smirk on his face.

“Well yeah.”

“So what do you really need?”

“Huh? Well…” Davis paused.

“Sheesh kid you can ask me anything.”

“Well I was hoping if I could stay at my friend’s house.”

“…..No.”

“Huh?”

“Just kidding!” Mochida laughed. “Sure you can go on ahead.”

“Thanks Mr. Mochida.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just don’t do anything bad ok.” 

“I won’t I promise.”

With that, Davis hung up the phone before walking back to Jeri, _“Mr. Mochida is more perceptive then I thought.”_

“Looks like I’m staying over tonight.”

“That’s great!” Jeri clapped her hands together. “So you can stay in Marcus’s room with the Digimon. Oh! You may need a bed. I’ll go grab the air mattress.”

“I’ll come with you.” Elecmon followed Jeri as turned the corner of the hallway.

“Now that that’s all settled.” Veemon turned to face Calumon. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine.” Calumon sighed. Davis and Veemon exchanged glances, obviously noticing the sorrow in the young Digimon’s voice.

“Calumon…” Davis patted Calumon on the head. “It’s about what happened to Marcus isn’t it?”

Calumon flinched, “Y-yeah.”

“You can’t blame yourself over it Calumon.” Veemon soothed.

“How can I not?” Calumon shouted tears stinging his eyes. Agumon opened the door and stuck his head out to look at the now crying Digimon. “I-I. If I didn’t rush like that, Marcus would not have nearly died!”

Davis watched as the little Digimon flew down to the ground. His small hands trying to dry his big eyes. His ears were shrunk and sobs could be heard echoing around the now silent hallway. Agumon was now fully out, carefully closing the door behind him and footsteps behind Davis alerted the former goggle head that Jeri and Elecmon had rounded the corner and coming over to check out the commotion.

“Calumon!” Jeri bent down and hugged her friend. “Don’t cry its ok.”

“No it’s not.” Calumon sobbed.

Davis watched. His heart breaking as he watched Calumon cry in Jeri’s arms. He really felt like this was his fault. It sort of was, if Davis was being honest, but it could have happened to any of them or all of them if they didn’t realize it as soon as Calumon started flying away. Davis flinched when he realized that Calumon felt like he always had to be protected and now here he was, being protected by one of his friends that could have kicked the bucket.

“Calumon. I don’t blame you for this.” Agumon comforted. “And I’m sure the Boss won’t either. He may not look or act like it, but he can be a very forgiving boss.”

“B-but why…?” Calumon whimpered. “I did this to him.”

“Calumon do you remember when I was captured by the D-Reaper?” Jeri whispered in a motherly tone.

“Y-yeah.”

“It was my fault that I got captured and my fault for the whole incident escalating the way it did.”

“No it wasn’t Jeri!”

“It was.” Jeri sighed, though she cringed at the own words coming out of her mouth. It must have stung her heart so much to say these things like this out loud. She did face her shadow and admitted to her feelings, and it hurt then too, but it hurt a lot more saying it herself like this. “If I hadn’t let the D-Reaper take advantage of me then it would have never have invaded the human world and may not have harmed the part of the Digital World the way it did.”

“B-but Jeri…!” Calumon whined.

“Calumon what I’m trying to say is….” Jeri paused and closed her eyes. She needed to choose her next words carefully as to not hurt her friend. “That yes it was your fault for what happened, but you can’t do anything to change that, no matter how much you want to, but we don’t blame you for it. Marcus won’t blame you for it either.”

Calumon fell silent. Davis watched as the white Digimon nodded his head, tears still streaming down his cheeks. He knew it would take Calumon time to get over this whole thing, but at least he would get better from it now. Though the only way for Calumon to truly get better was to hear those words of comfort from Marcus himself.

Jeri sat Calumon down and smiled at him before standing up. She gave a nod to Davis before going back around the hallway corner to presumably get the air mattress. Elecmon turned his head to Calumon before following Jeri. Davis turned over to Veemon and inclined his head towards the door. Veemon caught on and ushered Agumon back into the bedroom with the larger of the two uttering confused protests before finally being pushed inside.

Davis sat down by Calumon and waited for him to stop sniffling. After a couple of moments, the Digimon stopped and stared up at Davis.

“Dai.” Calumon hung his head. Davis shook his head as he brought Calumon onto his lap and hugged him.

“It’s ok Calumon.” Davis soothed. “We’ve all done something like this at one point in our lives.”

“No you haven’t.” Calumon huffed. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

“How do you know?”

“….”

“Exactly.” Davis nodded his head. “This kind of stuff comes in the job description. I know you won’t believe us when we say that Marcus won’t blame you, but at least try to understand that we will be here for you. This simple mistake won’t make us drive you out or anything.”

Davis flinched. He remembered the mistakes he made. People got upset at him. He lost friends before he became a Digidestined that way. He lost friends with Digidestined because he acted on impulse and was driven out of the group of friends for it. Though he would never apologize for what he did, nor regret it, losing those friends was what made him so apprehensive of making friends with the others here in the first place.

Then his mistake of not telling everyone he suspected T.K to be the next target, led to the still lost blonde being kidnapped in the first place. All of this could have been avoided if he just spoken his suspicions instead of wanting to avoid the person that centered and started all of his problems.

“Dai…” Calumon whispered after Davis hadn’t spoken in a couple of minutes. He looked up to the boy’s hair covered eyes and frowned. Whatever Davis was thinking of, it was obviously upsetting him. Calumon nodded his head in determination before hugging the mahogany haired boy.

Davis was jerked out of his thoughts wants he felt a light squeeze around his stomach. He looked down at Calumon hugging him and smiled. Sheesh. Here he was, supposed to be comforting Calumon, but now being comforted instead. He needed to get better at this.

“I don’t know what has happened to you…” Calumon began. “But I promise I won’t leave you. You’re my friend.”

Davis blushed and turned his head away. How come Calumon was better at this then he was? Maybe it was the eyes? He didn’t know, but he nodded his head and smiled at the words.

“Thanks Calumon. But I hope you realize that it’s the same way for you from us.” Davis confirmed.

Calumon’s eyes widened as he realized the words were true. Davis laughed a little as the small Digimon fell from his lap as if he just realized the most obvious answer, which it was since they kept telling him over and over. He heard a beep from his Digivice and checked to see that the Star Social Link had reached level two.

“I got the air mattress!” Jeri called cheerily as she lifted the deflated mattress over and opened the door. She stopped to look between Davis and Calumon before smiling and going inside the room, Elecmon close behind.

“Welp. I have an air mattress to set up.” Davis stood up along with Calumon as they both entered the darkened room. They were automatically met with snoring from a sleeping Agumon, who was at the end of the Marcus’s bed, curled up like a dog. “And earplugs to find too apparently.”

“You’ll be fine.” Jeri giggled as she unraveled the air mattress.

“You don’t have to sleep in the same room.” Veemon muttered, though the smile on his face showed his amusement.

“Well, I think you can blow this up yourself right?” Jeri asked.

Davis quirked a brow. That wasn’t very Jeri like for her to just want to leave everything to Davis. He pursed his lips before giving a small nod in agreement. Whatever was on Jeri’s mind he’ll ask her about later.

“Ok. Sorry to leave you to this on your own.” Jeri smiled sheepishly. “But you’re a strong guy so I’m sure you can handle it.”

With that, Jeri made her leave, closing the door behind her. Davis sighed before sitting down and began putting air into the mattress. When he saw red fur sit by him he suddenly jerked up, realizing that Elecmon didn’t follow Jeri out.

“Uhhh… Elecmon, why are you here?” Davis asked.

“Jeri needs some alone time right now.” Elecmon stated simply. “Thinking or talking about the D-Reaper upsets her so she needs time alone to just relax.”

Davis frowned, “I guess you’re right.”

“Do you need assistance with that?”

After that Davis and the still awake Digimon took turns on putting air in. Calumon of course having shorter turns and Davis taking the longer ones. After a few jokes from Veemon about Davis being an airhead, Veemon was the one who started taking the longer turns. After a good amount of time, the group had finished the air mattress, though the group of Digimon flopped on Marcus’s bed.

“You’re going to suffocate him.” Davis growled as he pulled a chair over and sat by the bed.

“No we aren’t.” DemiVeemon protested as he rolled onto the left side of Marcus that pointed away from Davis.

“Why are you de-digivolved?”

“Do you want me to actually suffocate him?”

“Point.”

Davis sighed as the Digimon all took places to sleep around Marcus. No one dared go near the bottom, as Agumon had already claimed the entire area. Soon Calumon was on the left of Marcus, by his head, DemiVeemon was curled up on Marcus’s stomach (Though Davis was sure the blue Digimon would not be there for long), and Elecmon slept at Marcus’s left knee to make sure that Calumon wouldn’t roll down and onto Agumon.

Davis watched in amusement as everyone began to fall asleep around the sick boy. He smiled at the sight before his eyes rested on Marcus’s himself. He frowned. Even though Calumon was placing the blame on himself, Davis was also partly to blame for all this. He should have come prepared for something like this. He knew poisonous and venomous Digimon existed, so why didn’t think far ahead enough for this.

_“Can you stop it already!?”_

Davis jolted upright at the memory. He stood up and head straight to the bathroom. After washing his face and returning to his seat, he let the memory ebb from his mind and let himself relax. He felt better but the effects of what it did still gnawed at him from the back of his head.

_“I shouldn’t let this stuff get to me.”_ Davis thought. He had to focus on the now. He rested his head on the bed glancing between all the sleeping bodies and looking at the wall in the direction Jeri was at. _“I won’t mess up again.”_

After a while, Davis felt his eye lids start to close. He knew he had an air mattress nearby, but the warmth was lulling him into staying where he was and soon he finally closed his eyes and allowed sleep to over take him.


	32. Bonds with Friends and Family

Davis blinked his eyes open the next morning, immediately closing them from the exhaustion wracking his body. He also felt some pain from his back which he had no idea why he had. Memories of what happened yesterday fluttered through his drowsy mind. He cursed himself for not sleeping on the air mattress so that he wouldn’t have a sore back.

_“Real smart Davis.”_ Davis berated himself. He felt some weight on his neck and opened his eyes again to see if DemiVeemon or Calumon had crawled over to sleep on him.

Davis couldn’t see any face on his shoulder but a hand instead. He turned his head to see the arm was connected to Marcus who seemed to have a tight grip on the former goggle head.  Davis blinked realizing that Marcus was also holding onto Calumon with his other arm. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight before him. It seemed like Marcus slept with a teddy bear or two when he slept.

_“I am so using this as ammunition later.”_ Davis laughed evilly in his head as he closed his eyes again, reassured that Marcus seemed fine enough to move in his sleep.

Or he would have gone to sleep if the door wasn’t slammed open. He turned his head to glare at the person who would interrupt his sleep to see Jeri walk in and watch with a mischievous look.

“Don’t say a word.” Davis growled.

“Ok.” Jeri smirked as she leaned against the door frame. “Anyways we have school today so you should get ready.”

“Augh. School.” Davis buried his head back into the bed. He’d rather stay here in the sleep circle then go to school. He was just going to sleep through class anyways.

“Come on sleepy head.” Jeri giggled as she pulled Marcus’s arm off Davis and tried to pull the stubborn boy off the chair.

After a few minutes of convincing and dragging, Jeri managed to get Davis up and going to school, much to the boy’s displeasure. The two barely made it to class on time as they took their seats and the teacher began the lecture of the day.

Miraculously, Davis actually stayed awake for most of the lesson and quite happy the day went by quickly. He stood up and stretched his arms once the final bell rang.

“I’ll be working at the restaurant today, but Calumon and Agumon said they could take care of Marcus while I’m working so you don’t have to help today if you don’t want too.” Jeri informed as the two stepped outside of the classroom.

Davis was about to respond with the usual, ‘Of course he’ll help’, when he saw someone out of the corner of his eye rushing up to them. He turned to see Sayo panting heavily as she stopped by them. She looked up with worried eyes that soon calmed down once she saw who it was.

“Moto!” She gasped as she hid behind Davis. Davis looked worriedly behind him and glanced at Jeri who looked very confused.

“Oh, Jeri. This is my friend Sayo. Sayo, this is Jeri.” Davis introduced awkwardly.

Sayo, who was crouching behind Davis, looked up and Jeri and nodded politely at her before ducking her head back down.

“Are you ok?” Jeri asked.

“….” Sayo stayed silent.

After a while a group consisting of both girls and boys rushed by. Sayo, with strength Davis had no clue she had, moved the boy in their direction as she blocked them from seeing her and used Jeri as the other shield.

“Hey have you seen a girl with long lavender hair run by here?” One of the girls asked. “About this tall and wearing a beanie?”

Davis felt Sayo stiffen behind him. What was going on and why were these people looking for Sayo? More importantly why was Sayo so scared of these people to begin with? Though he wanted answers, he knew he couldn’t be asking such things right now.

“She just left through the school entrance.” Davis lied.

“She already ran out?” One of them cursed under their breath before the whole group rushed towards the entrance and ran out of it.

“You can come out now.”

Sayo peered over Davis’s shoulder, and then Jeri’s before bashfully stepping out from behind them. She gave a small nod in gratitude as well as bowed before she turned and began heading towards the opposite direction the group had gone into.

“Thank you Moto and Jeri.” Sayo said before finally taking off.

Davis turned to Jeri who nodded her head at him. Davis smiled and promised to make it up to her before chasing after Sayo and grabbing her shoulder. The lavender haired girl turned her head and stared wide eyed at Davis.

“Hey. Are you ok?” Davis asked. He grabbed her wrist and began dragging her outside to one of the school benches.

“Yes….” Sayo whispered.

Davis pointed to the bench. Sayo eyed it for a bit before sighing and sitting down. She wasn’t going to win this even if she tried. Davis soon took a seat by her and gave her a look that clearly showed he did not believe her.

“Ok. Then what was that all about?” Davis asked.

Sayo stiffened and Davis caught it immediately. Sayo shook her head, continuing to deny anything really happened. Davis’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. What was Sayo hiding from him? He knew they weren’t really close friends, more acquaintances then anything, yet she was denying stuff that just happened right in front of them.

“You are a horrible liar.” Davis stated leaning back on the bench. He felt a bit hypocritical saying that since his probably even worse. “Are you going to tell me the truth?”

Sayo raised her head and glared at Davis, “And if I don’t want to tell you?”

“Then I’ll figure it out myself.” Davis snapped.

“Why do you care?” Sayo asked.

“Why did you care to give my cards back to me and offer your umbrella so I wouldn’t get soaked? Not to mention the latter was after you went out of your way to find me after I ran off.” Davis countered.

Sayo closed her mouth, not having anything to counter what he just said. She sighed and placed her head in her hands.

“So?”

“I-I just don’t get along with the other students.” Sayo whispered.

“Why?”

“I act different and I guess what I said today must have really made them mad.”

“What did you say?”

“W-well.” Sayo blushed as she buried her face further into her hands. “Probably something I shouldn’t repeat, especially as loud as I had said it.”

Davis’s eyes widened in shock. He didn’t know if he should burst out laughing or just sit there with his jaw on the ground. It was such an odd thought of the quiet Sayo just up and yelling out something she shouldn’t repeat.

“Was there a reason?” Davis asked.

“What?” Sayo brought her head out of her hands and gave him a quizzical look.

“You had to have a reason right?”

“Well, they just kept….” Sayo sighed. “Just kept saying the usual stuff, but I guess I had enough of it and snapped at them.”

“Usual stuff?”

“Insults and swears that are directed at me, or talked about behind my back.” Sayo answered, suddenly taking interest with the ground she was kicking.

“And you said you snapped?” Davis asked.

“Yes.”

“Then they deserved whatever you said to them.” Davis snorted.

“Huh?” Sayo looked up at him shocked.

“They are treating you horribly right? Then they have no right to get angry when you snap right back at them.”

“But, two wrongs don’t make a right.” Sayo countered.

“In some situations that can be true.” Davis closed his eyes, contemplating his own reactions for a moment before opening them again. “Do you regret what you did?”

Sayo closed her mouth. She didn’t move or say anything for a few moments before shaking her head. She didn’t regret what she said to them at all.

“Then I think your fine.” Davis smiled as he patted her on the back. “It’s ok to fight back you know.”

“You’re weird Moto.” Sayo smiled.

“Says the girl that searched for me out in the rain.” Davis snorted. “Anyways if they give you trouble let me know. I know this guy who can beat the ever loving crap out of them.”

“Thank you Moto.”

Davis heard a beep and checked looked at his digivice. The Moon Social Link had reached level two. Davis smiled as he stood up and offered his hand to Sayo.

“Come on. I’ll walk you home.” Davis offered, turning his head away to seem like he was indifferent to the while matter.

Sayo stared at the hand for a moment before grabbing it and letting Davis pull her up.

“Thanks.”

Davis blushed as he shook his head and let go of Sayo’s hand. He beckoned her to follow him and the two set off for the lavender haired girl’s house.

_“How did I get us lost?”_ Davis asked himself angrily as once he returned home. _“Inaba’s such a small place too. So how could I get us lost for a few hours? Didn’t even say anything about it and just giggled the entire time.”_

“Welcome home Daisuke!” Akiko greeted rushing up to the door as Davis took his shoes off.

“Welcome back!” Mr. Mochida greeted as well once Davis and Akiko had entered the living room. Akiko happily skipped over to the table which already had dinner set up on it. “Sorry we thought you would be over at your friends place again so we didn’t fix you anything.”

“That’s fine.” Davis responded. He look over at Mochida curiously, not used to seeing the man in the house two days in a row like this. “You’re home early.”

“Well I was finally allowed off work early for the rest of the week soo….” Mr. Mochida gestured to all the food on the table. “I can make dinner for you and Akiko. Well… Not you today since I thought you would be over at a friend’s house and all that.”

“Oh ok.” Davis responded, still skeptical of the whole thing.

“Anyways, Akiko time for bed. You got school tomorrow.”

“No I don’t! Tomorrow’s Sunday!” Akiko puffed out her cheeks.

“But if you want to get big and strong, then you need to get your sleep.”

“But I’m not…” Akiko began but was interrupted by her own yawn. She looked between the two amused faces in front of her and begrudgingly admitted defeat silently as she got up and headed to her bedroom, with a goodnight tossed behind her shoulder.

“That girl can be stubborn sometimes.” Mochida chuckled.

Davis agreed as he pulled out a pan and cracked some eggs into it. Mochida watched as Davis focused on cooking the eggs, the only sound coming from the turned on T.V that was showing PFMR. Mochida tapped his foot as if it would help fill the silence between the two.

“So… How’s school?” Mochida asked awkwardly after a few minutes.

“It’s good.” Davis responded as he placed the scrambled eggs onto a plate and the pan into the sink.

Mochida bit his lip as Davis sat at the small living room table and began eating the eggs, his gaze of PFMR.

“How about with your friends? Doing any fun stuff?”

“We hang out, sometimes fight, and eat a lot together so I guess that can be considered fun. Well if you count being put into a maid outfit fun….” Davis muttered the last part.

“Hold on. Something about a maid?” Mr. Mochida tilted his head.

“Nothing!” Davis blushed as he focused on his eggs and began to scarf them down.

“Did you find a cute maid Davis?”

_“If I was attracted to myself, I would say maybe.”_ Davis thought as he shook his head.

“Ok then.” Mochida laid back and smiled a knowing smile. “Oh but I heard one of your friends is Jeri from Akiko. Doesn’t she wear a maid outfit for work? I’ve only been their once or twice with Akiko so I wouldn’t really know. Do you find her cute in it?”

Davis turned an angry glare towards Mochida. Upon realizing he was blushing from Mochida’s widening grin he automatically turned his head back to the T.V, muttering a few curses about how evil his uncle is.

“So what do you do?” Davis asked, hoping to derail the subject.

“Huh? Well I work as a detective.”

“A detective?”

“Yeah. I’m working the mysterious murder case right now.” Mochida answered. “I had to stop and look at some kidnapping cases at the moment, though the young girl was found, a young man is currently missing and we are currently searching for him.” He stopped himself when he saw Davis stiffen. “Oh of course this isn’t something you really want to hear since one of your friends was one of the kidnapped and you may be concerned for your own safety. No worries, we are on the case!”

“Yeah. Good to know.” Davis sighed.

“Usually we have Dojima working a case like this.”

“Dojima?”

“His one of our best detectives in Inaba.” Mochida explained. “He solved a case similar to this that happened three years ago, so he would be the best choice for this, but he is currently on vacation with his daughter Nanako visiting his nephew who is currently in college.”

“There was a case similar to this?” Davis asked shocked.

“Yeah. It had taken a whole year to solve.” Mochida explained.

“What?!” Davis fell back in shock.

“W-well that isn’t to say it would take a whole year.” Mochida tried to comfort. “Once Dojima comes back I’m sure it will be solved in no time.”

“I see.” Davis hummed. He stood up and took his empty plate to the sink. “Anyways, I think I’ll head to bed tonight.”

“Oh. Ok then. Goodnight Davis.” Mochida gave a small smile as Davis climbed the stairs to his room.

_“I have to thank Mochida later. That was pretty useful information.”_ Davis thought as he entered his room and pulled out his phone. He stopped though when a strange feeling washed over him.

_“I am thou, and thou art I… Thou hast established a new bond. It brings the closer to the truth… Thou shalt be blessed when using Digimon of the Hanged Man Arcana.”_

_“Oh welcome back voice in my head.”_ Davis rolled his eyes as he dialed Jeri’s home phone and waited a few moments.

“Hello?” DemiVeemon answered.

“DemiVeemon? Why did you pick up?” Davis asked.

“Most of the Katou family is busy closing, Calumon and Agumon are out cold by Marcus. Oh and Jeri is still not back home yet.”

“Huh? She isn’t home yet?” Davis asked looking at his watch, reading that it was nine o’clock. “Where is she?”

“I was worried too but she called a little bit ago saying she’ll be back soon.”

“Oh. What was she doing?”

“I don’t know, but she has Elecmon with her, so she’ll be fine. You know, unlike _someone_ who left me here.”

“H-hey I was tired and you were still sleeping.” Davis tried to explain. “A-anyways, I learned some new info that I don’t exactly know how it fits into what we’re doing but is important none the less. So I was thinking we should talk about it tomorrow.”

“Ok. I’ll pass it along, since I basically have no choice.”

“Oh come on buddy.”

“There is a way to make it up to me.”

“I’m not buying out the entire junk food section of Junes.” Davis deadpanned.

“….”

“Fine! But only some stuff ok?” Davis rolled his eyes.

“Pleasure doing business with you Motomiya.” DemiVeemon laughed before hanging up the phone.

_“I know he didn’t, but I feel like I was conned.”_ Davis thought as he flopped onto the bed, ready to rest for the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I was pretty busy over the course of my winter break and I also was writing a chapter for another story. But it's up now so yay!


	33. Side Chapter #3 It's Just an AU part 2

“I understand now. I’m you and you are me.” T.K whispered. Shadow T.K smiled and soon a flash of green light covered him.

“Finally! That fight took forever!” A bruised and bloody Agumon whined. The whole team had just defeated Shadow T.K and were pretty tired after the fight.

“Sheesh, next time listen to us when we tell you to accept your Shadow.” Marcus growled.

“Yeah sorry.” T.K blushed and scratched the back of his head. “Didn’t know that would happen.”

“Hey guys don’t blame T.K he didn’t know.” Davis chuckled. T.K smiled over at Davis. “His a princess locked up in this tower, how was he supposed to know.”

That smile instantly dropped.

“OK! Can we drop about what I’m wearing right now?” T.K angrily whined. He glared at the corset combined with a princess dress as if it was the most evil thing in the world, and it probably was to T.K.

“Is that an order your highness?”

After Davis.

“OK. So is Takeru a boy or a girl?” Calumon asked flying over to T.K’s chest. “He seems to be a boy.”

“Oh no Calumon. He is definitely a girl.” Davis chuckled only to be meet in the head by a high heel shoe. “OW!”

“I can’t believe I wanted to apologize to you.” T.K mumbled angrily as he turned back and watched as Shadow T.K take a new form.

“Yeah Davis. You should know better than to mess with a lady.” Marcus chuckled. He was also meet with the high heel shoe’s sister. “Ow!”

“Hey if it makes you feel any better,” Jeri patted T.K on the back, the blonde looked over to her with a curious look. “You look really pretty in it.”

T.K made some sort of dying sound before crouching on the ground and hiding his face.

“Hey look!” Veemon pointed over to the new form Shadow T.K had finally took.

“Why was this so much longer then my transformation?” Leomon asked.

“Who cares about that?” Agumon asked. “I’m more wondering why he looks like an orange pig.

“Patamon?” T.K looked up hopefully before he buried his face back into his hands. “…. Why?”

“Uhhhh.” Patamon wobbled a little when he hit the ground but quickly regained his footing. “Where am I?”

“Hey Pata-“ Veemon stopped and gaped.

“Oh my god.” Jeri giggled. Marcus and Agumon bursted out laughing and Leomon turned his head away, covering his mouth with his hand as he tried to stifle his laughter.

“Life is great.” Davis smiled as he held up his phone and started taking pictures. “Oh. Got to make sure T.K is in the shot.”

Standing shortly on the floor, was a very confused Patamon wearing an elegant prince costume over his body and a tiny crown on his head. He looked between everyone here with a confused expression.

“Davis? Veemon? What happened? Where are we?” He swung his head around before his eyesight caught the very red T.K who was hiding in the corner of the room. “T.K!”

Patamon leaped and flew over to the blond princess and hugged the back of his head.

“Oh T.K it’s so good to see you again!” Patamon snuggled even closer to T.K. “Though I wonder how we got here and why we are together again.”

“You aren’t questioning what his wearing?” Davis asked.

“Huh? No. T.K can wear whatever he wants. Especially when he looks really pretty in it.”

“I’m done!” T.K bolted straight up, causing Patamon to fly into Calumon. “I’m done! I’m leaving the dungeon by myself. I don’t care if I get maimed. It’s better than being here!”

With that shouted to the high heavens, T.K turned and walked straight to the door and slammed it open.

“Wait T.K!” Jeri called out worriedly as she rushed after the running boy, a chuckling Leomon following after them.

“T.K!” Patamon flew after, confused and worried about what would happen to his partner if he tripped down the stairs in that get up.

“Yeah T.K wait! Don’t be a cry baby about this….. And at least let your prince charming protect you!” Davis laughed as he, Veemon and Calumon followed behind.

“ARGH!” T.K groaned.

Marcus and Agumon were too busy laughing to even notice everyone leaving.


	34. Back Into the Spider's Web

Davis woke up the next morning to the sound of knocking on his door. He yawned before getting up and walking down the stairs. He turned to the corner of the hallway that led to the door to only collide with someone and cause the both of them to fall to the ground.

“Ow!” Davis growled rubbing his backside.

“Good morning.” A voice awkwardly laughed.

Davis looked over to see Jeri was sitting up on the ground. She was wearing a yellow spaghetti strap and a green skirt.

“Sheesh, can I get a little warning next time?” Davis asked as he stood up. He offered Jeri his hand which she accepted and helped the girl back up to her feet. “What are you doing here anyways and how did you get in here?”

“Oh! Your uncle let me in. Said he was going to work.” Jeri gestured to the now closed door. “Plus you were the one who said that you had some important info to share right?”

“Info?” Davis paused for a moment before his eyes widened. “Oh yeah! This seems somewhat important to the case so we need to talk about it.”

“It’s a case now is it?” Jeri asked. “Are we going to be detectives now?”

“Maybe...” Davis smiled. He ran up and changed his clothes, grabbed his backpack, and let a sleepy Akiko know that he would be out for the day and that she can invite her friends over.

“So how important is it?”

“Well… It depends on how much more information we can get out of it.” Davis answered. “I’ll go over more details once we get back to your place.”

The two continued on with casual conversation and jokes made on their teachers before finally arriving back at Jeri’s place. When they reached the door to Marcus’s room however, the heard a lot of noise coming from behind it.

“Will you stop it already?!” One voice yelled, muffle by the door and walls.

“No! You need to lie back down!” Another spoke, higher pitched then the last one.

“If we can hold you back then you definitely need more rest!” Another yelled that Davis recognized as DemiVeemon.

“I’m being held back from the fat lizard that is holding on to my leg!” The first growled.

“That’s mean Boss!”

“I can’t take much more of this.” Davis deadpanned next to the giggling Jeri. He reached his hand out and opened the door to find Calumon pulling back a standing Marcus’s head, DemiVeemon holding onto the boy’s arm and Agumon gripping Marcus’s leg tightly. Elecmon was on the air mattress seemingly not wanting any part in what was going on. Davis normally would have been happy to see Marcus up and well, but the scene before him just made him want to face palm.

Jeri on the other hand was on the door frame, giggling like a mad man at the scene. All of the heads in the room turned at the noise. DemiVeemon was blushing, Calumon looked pleading, Agumon and Marcus seemed confused and Elecmon looked at them casually, not shocked to see them there.

“Is this how you get up every morning?” Davis asked dryly.

“Says the guy who was sleeping by me.” Marcus retorted.

“I was not sleeping by you!”

“Well….” Jeri smirked.

“Don’t say a word.” Davis growled. “Anyways, I got something we need to talk about.”

“Does it have to do with Takeru?” Calumon asked.

“No. But we’ll get to battle plans later.” Davis pulled the chair that was by a broken desk and sat on it. The others, taking that as a que, all either got comfortable on the bed, air mattress, and in DemiVeemon’s case, settling on Davis’s lap.

“So….. What is it?” Marcus asked.

Davis nodded and began to explain what he learned from Mochida last night. Explaining that apparently there was a case similar to this that happened three years ago and how it was solved at the end of the year.

“So murders from three years ago are like the murders that are happening now?” Elecmon asked.

“Apparently so.” Davis answered.

“Do they really have anything to do with Digimon?” Marcus asked. “If there were murders surrounding Digimon going on, DATS would have been there in a flash.”

“Then where is DATS now? Are they coming on over to help us or no?” Davis asked.

“I actually did some research.”

“Really?” DemiVeemon asked in shock only to be met by a pillow to the face.

“Yes really.” Marcus growled. “Anyways, DATS doesn’t really exist anymore due to the barrier that separates both the Digital World and human world being restored and no Digimon forcing their way in. That’s why no one has come over to investigate.”

Davis watched with curiosity as Marcus fell on his back on the bed. He seemed to grimace at the words that left his mouth. He turned his gaze towards Davis and gave him an apologetic smile.

“Sorry that I won’t be able to get you and DemiVeemon in DATS after all. Though it may need to be reformed after what I’ll tell them.”

“It’s no problem.” DemiVeemon answered waving off the apology. “Plus we kind of have something to be focusing on instead anyways.”

“Yeah! Like saving Takeru!” Calumon cheered.

Davis watched as the others pumped each other up. A suspicious feeling gnawing the back of his mind.

“So how does this exactly help with what’s going on now?” Agumon asked.

Davis pushed the feeling to the back of his head. He should focus on the now. Plus he shouldn’t be feeling any suspicion with Marcus. He could trust the brunette and whatever Davis was feeling must still be from his own apprehensiveness.

“Well I was thinking that whoever was behind this case would be behind this one.” Davis answered.

“I don’t think that would be possible.” Jeri added. “The culprit was already convicted and more likely than not, they keep a close eye on them to make sure they don’t go and kill anyone else.”

“Yeah I suppose so.” Davis sighed. “But we can still see if we can find any information after we rescue T.K on how the case went down and how it was solved so that we may have an easier understanding of what is going on.”

“So we have to dig up a three year old case?” Marcus asked disbelievingly.

“Yeah it will be kind of hard, but all we have to ask around is that if this stuff seems similar to a case three years ago and that should get the town talking.” DemiVeemon stated.

“So that’s the plan? Use this case to help figure out what is going on now?” Elecmon asked.

“Yeah. But we have to remember that Digimon weren’t involved in the original case so there is going to be some differences and we will have some less believable stuff going.”  Davis advised.

“Welp. I guess that settle that.” Marcus stood up and stretched his arms. “So when are we heading back into the dungeon?”

“What!?” Everyone other than Agumon shouted at once.

“Ow! Are you guys trying to kill my ears?”

“What do you mean ‘when are we going back into the dungeon’?” Davis shouted standing up. “There is no way you are completely healed yet! We can’t rush back in there when you should still be getting rest!”

“No worries, I’m perfectly fine.” Marcus smirked and did a few punches to help show that he was indeed fine.

“But! But! What if you get poisoned again?” Calumon asked worriedly clingy to Marcus’s head.

Marcus grabbed Calumon and threw him on to the bed, “That won’t happen, plus wasn’t Dokugumon weakened and split into four? We should be fine.”

“Still. Don’t push yourself.” Jeri cautioned.

“Yeah. It’s not really like we have a dedicated healer.” DemiVeemon warned.

“I’m fine!” Marcus rolled his eyes. “You guys worry more than my mother.”

“Well you are under my house Mr. Daimon!” Jeri declared.

“Isn’t it your parents?” Agumon asked.

“Shhh.”

“Fine.” Davis said. Marcus perked up at the words and fist pumped the air. “But let me at least brew the tea just in case any of us gets poisoned before we go.”

“I’d knew you’d come around Dai.” Marcus smiled.

“But be careful. If you show any signs of not being well I’ll confine you to this room for a week after we rescue T.K.”

“That’s cruel.”

“I second this motion.” DemiVeemon agreed.

“Third.” “Fourth.” “Seventh!” “Calumon, fifth comes after fourth.”

“Is this how you treat someone who was poisoned?” Marcus asked.

“Yes.” Everyone answered.

Marcus grumbled as he laid back down on the bed, sending a glare to the others before turning around and staring at the wall. The others chuckled before Davis stood up and rummaged through his bag, pulling out some water bottles and the tea packets. He went to the window and set the water with tea packets in it to let them heat up.

“Admit it you were worried.” DemiVeemon chuckled as he hopped up to the windowsill.

“Yes, I was so worried for the guy that was struggling to get a group of Digimon off him.” Davis rolled his eyes.

“Come on.”

“Yeah. Just a little.” Davis mumbled as he turned around and joined in on everyone else’s conversation. DemiVeemon smiled before hopping off the window sill and joining in as well.

“Ah it’s so good to be out of that room.” Marcus stretched his arms once they entered the Digital World, ready to head back into T.K’s dungeon. “So we have to beat four Dokugumon before having to face T.K’s shadow right?”

“Three. Veemon and I already took care of one.” Elecmon corrected.

“So all that’s left is to finish those three and then the shadow.” Davis rummaged through his backpack, giving a final check on supplies. “If we are too tired after fighting Dokugumon, we’ll head back.”

“OK. After you Calumon.” Jeri agreed.

After everyone else agreed the group followed Calumon back to the dungeon and waited for the small white Digimon to search the place for the floor they were on and a safe place to get transported too. Once he had found a spot a light captured everyone and the group was now in front of the stairs that would lead to the Dokugumon room.

Davis gave a glance to everyone before taking the lead up the stairs. Though he would never tell Marcus, he kept giving worried glances over to the older boy to make sure he was all right. The same feeling mixed of worry and suspicion swirling in his head before he shook it off as him being too suspicious and from being overly worried about him still having the effects of poison.

“There they are.” Davis whispered once the made it to the top and hid behind a pillar of web covered blocks. The three spiders were all sitting on a large web that was blocking the door, not paying to much mind to the entrance.

“What do we need to do?” Agumon asked. “Hit them first?”

“No. we need to lure them over to ourselves first so Marcus can get a punch in.” Davis advised. “They are too far away and he’ll be spotted before he even makes it half way to them.”

“Then leave it to me!” Veemon smiled.

Davis gripped his Digivice before pressing the button. Once Veemon successfully digivolved into Yaksamon, he launched forward, clapping his two wooden swords together to grab the Dokugumon’s attention. Once all three spider’s turned their heads to the noise, they quickly crawled off their web and began charging towards the masked Digimon.

“Those spiders are like something out of a horror movie.” Jeri shuddered.

Yaksamon leaped back as the got closer, luring them closer to the others. Once close enough, Davis gave Marcus the thumbs up. The brunette smiled before rushing out behind the corner and punching the leading Dokugumon, causing it to step back and stop the movement of the others. With a flash of light, GeoGreymon and Leomon jumped up from behind the pillar and rush towards the Dokugumon.

”So it’s three on three.” GeoGreymon snarled.

“GeoGreymon take on the big one!” Marcus yelled.

GeoGreymon nodded as he charged for the lead one. The big Dokugumon just coming out of its daze was flung forward by the large dinosaur. Yaksamon took on the smallest of the three on the left and began waking it with his wooden swords, making sure to keep its attention on him.

Leomon had already hopped on the right one’s back and slashing it with his sword. The spider hissed before flinging the lion off of it. Leomon flipped and landed on his feet before dodging the incoming web being shot at him. Brining up his sword he began hacking away at the web, but was not making any progress with pushing forward.

“Let’s see if this can help.” Jeri pulled out a card and slid it through her digivice.

“Cresecmon’s Lunar Axe!” Leomon called.

 A light appeared in Leomon’s left hand and it soon formed into a crescent shaped axe. He brought it up and sliced forward, leaving a path through the webs. Taking this as his chance he rushed forward. The Dokugumon opened up his mouth to let out more web. Leomon already being in front of the spider leapt upwards and flung his sword down onto Dokugumon’s head, piercing through and keeping the Shadow Digimon in place. Seeing that it was still moving he threw the axe, it spun and tore through the back of the Dokugumon. The Digimon stopped moving and once Leomon touch the ground it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

GeoGreymon on the other hand was currently wrestling the largest Dokugumon. He head-butted it repeatedly in hopes of stopping it from spewing web into his face. The Dokugumon growled before pushing the dinosaur off. GeoGreymon rolled for a bit and began standing up again to see that the Dokugumon was already up on all eight of its legs. It opened its mouth, but it was shut quickly by Marcus who had jumped up onto its head and punched the top of it. Once the boy was safely away GeoGreymon recharged forward and used his horns to fling Dokugumon into the air.

“Mega Flame!” GeoGreymon shouted before letting out a powerful flame from his mouth, hitting the Dokugumon head on. Smoke appeared around the flame as the Shadow Digimon disappeared.

Yaksamon was dodging each blow the Dokugumon was throwing at the Digimon. When the spider Digimon shot out webs at him he would block it with his swords.

“This we’ll take forever at this rate.” Davis muttered pulling out a card that was labeled Buraimon. “Guess we’ll use reinforcements.”

Davis slid the card through his Digivice. Soon a light appeared by Yaksamon and a giant bird man wearing a straw hat appeared. He was holding two swords on his side and had human arms. He wore a red vest that was buttoned up and baggy red pants. The Digimon also had giant yellow wings protruding from his back.

The two Digimon nodded to one another before launching forward. Buraimon took the lead and with his two swords, began slashing away the web. Yaksamon was following close behind blocking any webs that would somehow slip through. Once near Dokugumon, Buraimon stabbed both his swords into the Digimon. While the Shadow Digimon struggled, Yaksamon jumped up and crossed both his swords together.

“Bisecting Stroke!” Yaksamon called. Soon shock waves in the shape of an X flowed from Yaksamon’s blades, hitting Dokugumon on the back. The Digimon screamed before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Buraimon bowed before he too disappeared.

“Looks like we beat them.” Davis sighed, rubbing the sweat from his head.

“I wish they were just separate spiders to begin with. That made life easy.” Veemon commented as he returned to the others.

“No one got hit right?” Calumon asked worriedly.

“Nah. Looks like we’re all good.” Marcus smiled. Jeri puffed her cheeks and stomped over to the oldest boy. He looked over at her with a smile but was soon met with a smack on the top of the head. “Ow! What was that for?”

“We told you not to push yourself!” Jeri explained angrily. “Then you go off and punch one of them in the head!”

“I had to help out GeoGreymon!”

“I had it just fine Boss!” Agumon whined.

“But weren’t you on the floor for a short period?” Veemon teased.

“At least I wasn’t helped by a chicken!”

“What?”

“Does it really matter if he got help?” Leomon asked.

“So it shouldn’t matter if I helped right?” Marcus asked.

“I suppose since you did, but…” Davis hummed. “I think you need another day of rest because of it.”

“What?”

Davis smiled, “Anyways. We have just one more thing to do before we head home.”

The group turned to the door that lead to the next set of stairs, and eventually to the room T.K was at. The webs had already began to disintegrate. They gave each other glances before nodding and walked up to the door. Davis placed his hand on the door and gave a shaky breath. Jeri grabbed his shoulder reassuringly.

“I know you and Takeru have been fighting badly recently.” Jeri said. “But don’t forget we are still here to help you out.”

Davis turned and smiled at her before going back to the door. He took a deep breath before opening the door.


End file.
